The Girl
by Adishailan
Summary: There once was a girl who believed in fairies and dreamt of goblins. There once was a girl who played with dolls but didn't play pretend. There once was a girl who wished her brother away… and meant it. (beta-read by the lovely Sazzle76)
1. Chapter 1

_There once was a girl who believed in fairies and dreamt of goblins._

 _There once was a girl who played with dolls but didn't play pretend._

 _There once was a girl who wished her brother away…_

* * *

Her home was quiet on that evening. It sounded like there was no one there but for the slight hum of a muffled song somewhere from within. In the shadow drenched living room, which took up most of the flat, there were neat piles of laundry, several glass bottles dotted around and a strong smell of vinegar in the air, as if someone had spilt a bottle all over the carpet by accident. They hadn't, but it was like they had. The singing started to wind down, words muffled still but clear through the flimsy wooden door of one of the bedrooms. A slight wind whispered through the gap of that door, lightly parting it from the frame, only for a steady, slender hand to gently push it shut.

The girl, to whom the hand belonged to, propped herself against the doorway for a moment before shifting the sleeping baby on her chest and slowly walking around their room, murmuring soft words and humming a slow tune under her breath. It was a small room. There was barely any room for the plastic crib within it, let alone the camping bed as well. But it all managed to fit, along with a small wall of soft toys encircling it. Their button eyes glinted in the low glow of the bedside lamp and their vibrant colours and peculiar shapes were half hidden in the shadows pooling out from the orange glow of the streetlamp outside.

The girl let out a tight breath as the little boy stirred in her arms and lightly thrust his legs forward into her stomach, but she made no other sound as she lowered him into his crib. The silence was absolute as she stared at her brother, hand gently cradling his face, naked adoration adorning her green eyes.

"I wish the Goblin King would take you away... right now."

* * *

 _There once was a girl who wished her brother away **and meant it**._


	2. Chapter 2

**Many thanks to those who are reading so far and enjoying this and a huge thank you to my beta reader, the lovely Sazzle76. I hope you enjoy this chapter :) xx**

* * *

The first time the girl- or Gurl as she called herself- saw the Goblin King, she didn't know that he was a king. She didn't even know she was in the land of his Labyrinth.

She had been much younger. Young enough that she couldn't remember how old she'd been other than 'maybe four or five?' It was surprising that she could remember anything about it, or about him. But she did. Gurl never knew how or when she had arrived in that place. She only knew that she had been playing in the golden sand (piling the rocks and pebbles into makeshift castles) for a long time before she first noticed the fairies. Their lights were enchanting and their forms beautiful; no toddler could have resisted. Their screams sounded like laughter as she hounded them with stubby fingers and soft giggles, over rock and sand and through the dry, open planes until she finally came upon a large stone expanse. The fairies darted over the tall walls before her, but all thoughts of Tinkerbell were put out of her mind as she hesitantly gazed at it. If Gurl had more of an awareness of space and distance at that time, she may have thought the thing endless in its reach to the East and West. As it was, she didn't and all she saw was lots of rock, a few dried up flowers and a big, ominous looking door. A big, ominous looking door that was _opening_.

Easily hiding behind one of the boulders a little distance from the wall, Gurl watched with wide eyes as a tall figure stormed through those doors, staring out at the sandy abyss beyond. She found herself reminded of a cartoon character with big blond hair from the TV show she'd been watching that morning, except much cooler and less scared looking. The man shouted something out to the sands but Gurl couldn't hear what it was. They both remained there for a while, frozen in place as if time was taking a rest for a little bit. Then time got back to its work and the figure sharply turned with a huge swish of his cape (and, oddly enough, some glitter), entering back through the gates again. He didn't close them behind him... it would have been easy to follow. But she didn't. The blond man had shouted. Bad things happened when people shouted. No, instead she just sat there, staring at the odd world before her, a tiny worried smile tugging at her mouth.

In time, she watched her hiding place fade into a colourless grey, felt the sand beneath her hands melt away, and realised that she was sitting upright in her cramped cot rather than an open, gold-drenched land. Gurl never remembered how she spent the next hour quietly crying at this realisation, fearing that her odd, fairy land had disappeared forever. She did remember her delight on being proven wrong in her presumption the next night though.

* * *

It wasn't every night she went there of course. Sometimes she'd sleep and open her eyes only to find the watery, morning sunlight dimly shining through her window instead, but only when she was very tired. For most of her nights, she went to her fairy land.

The second time she arrived (blinking around herself as the walls of her room faded into golden waves of sand) she found herself sitting behind that same rock she had hidden behind before. She didn't stay there long though, toddling down the slight slope to come to a stop by a small pond, watching the odd, spike-covered fish dart to and fro under her reflection. Gurl was a patient child, in her own way, used to having to sit still and watch telly for hours, even when it bored her. These creatures didn't bore her though. She loved watching the little fish chase each other through the murky brown waters until the image faded from her eyes into the cracked ceiling of her bedroom.

It was like this for a while. Every time she thought of her golden land as she went to sleep, she would arrive, in the same exact place she had been before she left, always outside the wall. She would contemplate the doors into the odd place for a moment (for there were more than one and they all looked different) but then turn her attention to other things, like the fish, or the fairies.

She spent a whole night there once, after learning about flowers in her nursery class, clearing the weed choked ground from which the wall roses grew. Her soft nails had splintered and thorns dug into her fragile skin but she could have sworn she saw the rose heads bow towards her and stretch up. She liked going there after that, always pausing as she walked up and down the humongous perimeter, to see the roses peeping over the other side of the walls, surveying a world Gurl found herself growing more curious of every day.

* * *

By the time she was five and a half, roses and fairies were not enough anymore. Curiosity killed the cat after all.

 _And satisfaction brought it back._

She smiled as she recalled the song Mum played sometimes, softly singing it in the wrong tune as she approached the small entrance she had found three weeks ago, by a withered oak tree.

"Cause of curiosity... All the Ve-als had to see. The golden throne of a- ane-cent Rome and brought the city to its... to its knees."

She got a few of the words wrong and her singing voice was horribly out of tune, but she had a remarkably good memory for only having overheard the song a few times.

"But when I see your smiling face. I'm so uh- so- distafe, and, if you're holding out on me, I get curious, as curious as I can be..."

Her voice petered out as she tried to remember the next few lines, opening the small door made of a discarded sheet of bark and squeezing through the hole there. She shrugged as she crawled through the tiny tunnel and continued to whisper out her favourite lines.

"Curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back. In this- uh- in this- of this cat, as a matter of fact, I'll meet you at the old mouse hole... old mouse hole."

And out she popped, with a giggle on her lips, looking around where her own mouse hole led her. It was a large, brick lined corridor. The girl looked to her left, then to her right. It seemed to stretch straight on both ways, forever. Which was odd, as the outside of the wall seemed to bend... She didn't focus on this for too long though, as her eyes caught on something even stranger. The sky had changed. It **never** changed. Not once in all the time she had spent there. But now it had. No longer patterned with stripes of purple and yellow, the indecisive hint of sun, which once set the world aflame with an orange glow, was nowhere to be seen. Instead it was a light blue sky with an edge of white. ... Odd, but not the most interesting thing to a five-year-old. She simply shrugged again and got set to explore.

Gurl didn't really wonder that far down it the first time, spending most of her time poking at the glittery logs and sticks littered all over the cracked floor. These would be much better for building her castles!

It was only by accident, sometime later, that she found the first passageway. She had been tapping a branch on the bricks to see if the glitter would come off. It didn't, instead the stick didn't even hit the wall, it just kept going, sending Gurl sprawling forward at the unexpected lack of support, into the strange gap between the walls. This way, again, had a left and a right... but there were only some green things to the right and some statue like things to the left... much less sparkly sticks... Gurl dusted herself off and went back to try and collect more glitter. She ended up making a rather large pile of shining sticks (for the logs were too heavy for her yet) until the fading wood slipped from her grip along with the world around her.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, she wound her way along the left and right of the labyrinth. She was getting better at finding the turnings into the rest of the maze (she had discovered this new word after watching an episode of the crystal maze, falling in love with the challenges and excitement of it all) but she hadn't really explored them yet. She's popped into a few, but each time they looked to gloomy and scary, or lacked the right amount of glitter for her. It wasn't long until she could spot an opening as easily as breathing. Which wasn't always that easy.

Coughing and softly wheezing, Gurl leaned against the edge of one of these openings, wincing as several black spots danced across her vision and at the feeling of her stomach cannibalising itself below her fingers.

"Allo."

Flinching back, Gurl hissed with pain as the back of head hit the stone behind.

"W-who said that?" she whispered after shaking away the dizziness, looking around herself nervously.

No one ever spoke to her here. She hadn't heard a word from anyone since the shouting blond man. It had been nice.

"It was me, over 'ere, just in front of you."

Gurl squinted at the rock before her but she couldn't- oh.

"You're a worm," she stated obviously.

"That's right," smiled the little blue worm, his red scarf and bristly hair bobbing with him as he nodded. "What're you doin' in these parts of this maze little goblin? Your kind usually stays in the castle, am I right?"

Gurl blinked at this and frowned.

"Why are you calling me a goblin?" she asked, slowly shuffling towards the creature.

It was the worm's turn to frown now.

"Well that's what you are right? I'm called Worm, or Mr Worm if you like, as I am a worm. What's your name if not goblin?"

Gurl paused, considering this.

"I was named like that too... But I don't like it much..." she smiled at the worm, pale cheeks dimpling slightly "you can call me little goblin if you like."

The worm beamed back with a jerky little nod.

"Come inside 'little goblin' then, me an' the missis just put the kettle on."

"You- you want me to join you?" Gurl asked in a small, confused voice.

"Course! Not often we get to 'ave guests around 'ere, my wife'll love you!"

Gurl stared at Mr Worm, then at the hole he had nodded to. She didn't say she was too big, because that much was obvious.

"How do I get in?" she asked instead. Mr Worm seemed to approve of the question if the expression on his face was any indicator.

"That's a good question. Jus' take a step in the right direction an' then another," he explained, crawling back into the hole.

Ah, so it was like those turnings into the maze that didn't look like turnings. Gurl stood up, took one step forward and then, lifting a foot up towards the crack, took another step-

And walked head first into the wall.

"Ow. Ow! Mr Worm! It didn't work!"

"Do things always work the first time for you?" Was Mr Worm's response, reverberating out of the hole.

Gurl frowned considerately at this, her soft brow crumpling as she thought back to things that hadn't worked the first time, that been hard for her. Reading. Reading was hard. Talking too sometimes, she could never say the right things and sometimes it was hard to get her words out...

 _Things don't always work the first time._

Gurl sniffed determinedly as she thought about this, wiping at her eyes and stepping back. She walked forward once then once again, solely focused on getting where she wanted to go. Nothing about size, nor talking animals. Just getting into that hole. The wall before Gurl mushroomed up, towering over her as she fell forward with the sudden rush of vertigo.

"Well done, and on the second try! You're good at this aren' you!"

Gurl looked up with a toothy grin as Mr Worm stood (lay? It was hard to tell with worms) before her, almost as tall as her as he beckoned for her, with a nod, to follow him.

Mrs Worm turned out to be a true delight, as she cooed over Gurl and (somehow) set a hot green drink before her.

"Eye moss tea, our specialty," she singsonged in her high pitched voice, bright green bristles bobbing with her eager nods just as her husband's did. Gurl giggled at the rhyme, drinking the strangely spicy beverage and nibbling on the pebble cakes they had (again _somehow_ ) placed before her.

"I have to say my dear, you're the prettiest little goblin we've seen in a while. Excluding the King of course," Mrs Worm gushed excitedly.

"She's new, that's why," nodded Mr Worm, taking a sip of his own drink "she didn' even know she was called goblin... Though _I'm_ more surprised we didn' hear the bell for the new run. Tha's only happn'd once before."

"Oh darling, you know that goblins have names too don't you? The King gives it to them special," Mrs Worm fondly chided her husband before turning back to Gurl. "What name did he give you?"

"... Uh... I don't- no king has given me one," she murmured worriedly. Did all the people here have to be named by a King? But she didn't have one! What if-

"Well _that_ explains it!" Mr Worm exclaimed suddenly "You need a goblin name before you can prop'ly become a goblin! Without one you're just half a goblin. See, imagine if I weren't called Worm. I bet you can even _remember_ your old name."

Gurl nodded dumbly.

"Well that's no good dear, you'd better forget your name and get your new one quick," Mrs Worm commented with a tut.

"Do- do I need a goblin name to stay here?"

"Oh there's no rush," Mr Worm kindly explained. "S'only if you want to become a proper goblin, you need to forget you were human. Easy to do if you don't have that old name bangin' around."

"Also means you can be a proper citizen here," Mrs Worm added with a kindly expression. "Get a place in the capital if you like. Although mind you, you'll have to do whatever the King tells you if he has your name."

Gurl thought about this as she sipped her tea. She didn't think she wanted to be a goblin. Weren't goblins the green baddies in all those stories? And she wasn't sure she liked the idea of being told what to do by this King. So far this place had been so great with no one telling her what to do or shouting or... Gurl frowned, taking a deep gulp of her drink and hissing as she burned her tongue slightly.

"Careful dear," chided Mrs Worm.

Gurl nodded and apologised.

"No need, no need. I do it all the time," laughed Mr Worm, sticking his pale tongue out at the little child.

Gurl giggled at that, swinging her skinny legs happily under the stool.


	3. Chapter 3

**Songs included in this chapter: Karma Chameleon by the Culture club watch?v=JmcA9LIIXWw**

* * *

Visiting the Worms became a common part of Gurl's night routine after her first visit. She was fine being called 'little goblin' by them. It wasn't her real name and she knew it, so there was no chance of her turning into one. They were very interesting to talk to and strangely interested in her; not many adults were bothered about Gurl. Her year one teacher seemed to be sometimes but he had lots of other kids to be interested in and anyway, he was payed to be like that. Mr and Mrs Worm weren't. It was as if they simply liked talking with her, sharing silly half-jokes that she didn't always get and telling her interesting stories. Today she was listening to the story about the last run.

"Why would she wish her little brother away?" Gurl asked Mr Worm with a horrified expression. She always wanted a little sibling to play with. Who would try and get rid of one?

"Who knows, probably annoyin' her too much or somethin'. She regretted it of course, wouldn' have done the run if she hadn'."

"So the King takes kids?" she asked worriedly, looking around as if this monster was about to swoop down on her that very second.

"Well yes dear, like he took you..." explained Mrs Worm with a confused crinkle on her brow. Gurl hurriedly drank her drink so to not have to make any comment on this. "I still don't understand why he let you out of his sight though. He always looks after new goblins really well; has a way with kids he does."

"Wished away children are rare these days as well. Not many know the righ' words," nodded Mr Worm, taking a sip of today's drink 'logdust coffee' which tasted like pears and burnt matches.

"It's not just that, darling. He somewhat likes babies and kids, wouldn't let one get hurt. Adults, on the other hand..." Mrs Worm paused, glancing at Gurl before shaking her head slightly. "Now, let's stop talking about this. Would you like some more log fudge, little goblin?"

Gurl declined politely, remembering the last time she had it (splinters were very painful between teeth.)

* * *

"That's an interesting toy you've made Lucy," said Mr Parham one playtime at school.

It had been raining all day which made Gurl happy. She loved indoor play. She could spend it playing with toys, drawing and helping Mr Parham with jobs.

Gurl looked down from her observations of the man, to the old grey-blue sock in her hands. It was a messy thing, stuffed full of cotton taken from a battered, unwanted pillow, with hair bands spaced haphazardly along it, a red scrunched up napkin round it's neck and the end held closed with hair clips. She nodded quietly and looked up from her toy to him again. Her teacher didn't know her name either but that was okay, him calling her Lucy didn't make her a 'Lucy'. Besides, she liked him. Even though he had thirty kids to look after, he still talked with her sometimes.

"How'd you know I made it?" she asked in almost a whisper.

"...It's got a certain charm to it," the teacher smiled. "I think I have a few craft supplies if you like. Want me to help you with the eyes?"

"Yes please!" Gurl blurted out, voice raising despite herself in her enthusiasm as she handed over the shoddy toy and followed him.

"What's his name?" Mr Parham asked, getting a sewing needle out of the DT box from the high shelf.

"Mr Worm."

"Oh is that from a new TV show or something?"

"No, Mr P-Parham. It's from my maze," Gurl started to smile as she proceeded to explain about her magical world of fairies, bowing roses and talking worms. She didn't even think of lying to him. Liars were bad, Mum said so. Liars get in trouble. Mr Parham smiled bemusedly at her explanation of this world but made very little comment.

"I wanted to make Mrs Worm but there was no green socks at home."

"How about a pink one?" The teacher asked.

"Mr Parham, girls aren't always pink" Gurl softly chided him with a frown. "I'm not pink, now am I?"

Mr Parham didn't seem to want to answer that question, instead focusing on choosing two buttons for the toy's eyes.

"No sir, they have to be red," she explained patiently as he brought down two black buttons.

"How about maroon, Lucy? It's a brownish red colour, see?"

Gurl smiled at the two buttons being held down for her. They were perfect. He was perfect... Gurl bit her lip with indecision, rubbing her hands together, before looking up at her teacher.

"Mr Parham... can I tell you a secret?"

"What sort of secret Lucy?" The man asked, dropping the buttons haphazardly on the desk so he could put away the DT box.

"... I- uh..."

The bell rang suddenly and sharply, making Gurl jolt in place and signalling the end of their conversation as Mr Parham hurried off to gather the children for the next lesson; the needles, thread and buttons left forgotten on his desk. Gurl liked the man but he wasn't half distractible. It was unlikely she'd get any help with Mr. Worm now...

* * *

Later in the day, after all the kids had been sent home, Mr Parham would go to his desk and find it bare. He'd only shrug and presume he'd tided up and forgot about it.

* * *

Listening to an old cassette she found in one of the unpacked boxes in mum's cupboard, Gurl grinned, singing along with it as she brought her needle through toy Mr Worm's head once again.

"Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma chameleon. You come and go, you come and go-oh-oh... Loving would be easy if your colours were like my dreams. Red, gold, and green, red, gold, and gre-ee-ee-n"

She occasionally hummed a few lines she couldn't remember but she was generally getting better at the words and the tune. The same couldn't quite be said for her sewing skills.

Suddenly, a sharp bang echoed through the flat and Gurl dropped the toy like a hot potato, wincing as the needle scratched her skin but not letting it stop her as she slammed the light and cassette player off and shoved everything under her bed, clambering under the covers without even taking her shoes off.

Doors opened and closed, luckily not Gurl's.

"... Everyday is like survival... Karma, karma chameleon ..." she breathed into the dark.


	4. Chapter 4

**Songs referenced include:**

 **Midnight Train to Georgia- Gladys Knight & The Pips- watch?v=IdfZnWsps34**  
 **Don't You Forget About Me- Simple Minds - watch?v=0jlHz0wF0Ig**

* * *

It had been about half a year after the day in which Gurl had discovered sewing. She was now at the end of her first year at school, but in her labyrinth school years didn't matter. There were no looming threats of Year 2 SATS or unfamiliar teachers. Instead all that mattered was how you spent your time, and even that didn't matter much. Gurl had decided though that it was way past the time she should have explored her maze more thoroughly. There were two reasons for her decision. One: she was curious to see what was out there, and two... the Worms were starting to askquestions:

"How's the name hunting going?" Mr Worm would be asking one night.

"Hullo, why so tired Little Goblin? I'm not boring you am I? Ha ha," he would laugh the next evening.

"You'd have thought she hadn't eaten in a month! Poor thing, why'd the King let her loose like this?" Gurl would hear Mrs Worm whisper.

"Here, why don we help you get to the castle so you can sort this all out? ...No? Uh- are you sure?" She would watch them exchange worried glances.

"You still look like a human somewhat my dear... haven't you got your name yet?"

Gurl didn't say much to the Worms' questions. Her voice curled up in her throat every time they asked if she was okay or about her name. She didn't want to lie to them. Lying wasn't what good girls did...

So she stopped visiting them. They were probably getting bored of her anyway... best to move on. And move on she did.

At first, there was very little difference between where she'd been before and the new part of the maze. There were less cobwebs and branches and, oddly enough, the sky had changed again, this time to a greyish blue. The sort or colour where you can't tell whether it is sky or cloud. Otherwise it was the same. It was still all stone and there were not many living creatures around. Actually there were none. Which was okay by Gurl, she was just fine being alone. But this strange emptiness did eventually start to change as she made her way deeper and deeper into the winding passageways of stone. Gurl would hear shouts and laughs from a distance as she clambered over distorted statues. She'd smell the soft smokey scent of cooked food as she collected miniature leaves from the hedges that had started to weave into gaps of the rock.

Then, finally, she saw her first goblin.

She had been climbing one of the first living trees she had found and was in the process of stringing the leaves from it together with the needle and thread she always carried on her nowadays (the little sewing kit went with her wherever she went, sadly leaving whatever she had made behind though), when she spotted the movement below her. Tucking her legs in tight, she peered through the branches to watch the most peculiar figure potter on by. He would have been about the same size as Gurl if not for his tall hat... his tall hat which was whistling...

Gurl goggled at the hat as it turned its feathered head around, as if taking in its surroundings. That wasn't the most peculiar thing to her though, once she got over her surprise. No, it was the figure below it that really made Gurl pause. The old goblin almost looked human but even from this distance Gurl could see the absurdly large nose, the oddly rounded eyes and peculiar structure to his head and body. He wasn't human... Gurl wasn't sure why this surprised her. There were worms that talked and there were magic doorways all over the place. Not to mention the apparently alive hat the man was wearing. It was just, he looked almost human.

Gurl didn't move from her spot for the rest of that night, simply staring at the figure settling down against the trunk of her tree and falling asleep. She both wanted and didn't want to talk to him. She was really curious about the hat and why he looked the way he did but... what if he asked questions like the worms? Then she'd have to move on again and... and she liked this tree right now... Also old men could get grumpy. What if old goblins were even worse? She decided it was better not to risk it.

The same decision she made when she later saw the goblins in red armour practicing their jousts in the wider routes and when she first noticed the walking walls with bug-eyed faces hidden in the moss that encrusted them. In all, she had to get very good at sneaking and hiding. But she already had a lot of practice in that so it wasn't too much of a learning curve. She did get spotted a few times by the walls but she soon discovered they didn't have mouths to speak so couldn't tell her off for being there. They just stared at her, bug eyes bugging out even more in their surprise. The little goblins living in the dead walls and under the path's tiles had much more of a verbal reaction.

"Stop dragging your bloody sticks on my stones you bratty gobber!" One yelled in a high pitched voice making Gurl squeak with alarm and jump a foot in the air.

She quickly darted away from that place, moving onto a more open space, with two different doors with odd knockers. As soon as she spotted them, she clambered into a gap in the hedge. If walls had eyes, then knockers most certainly had mouths. Except... one had a ring in its mouth and the other seemed to have one in its ears... Perhaps… Then one of the doors opened and Gurl shrank back as a short figure walked through it with a set of grumbles to match the grouchiest of old men. Like the bird hat man, he had lots of similarities to a human but also lots of differences. His head was too big for his body, his nose huge and slightly twisted to one side and he wore the strangest set of raggedy clothes.

'But... he looks... nice somehow, sad but nice...' as if, if she were to talk with him, he'd smile maybe or... Gurl shook off this feeling with a sigh. People who seemed nice often weren't... this stupid feeling didn't make any sense. Gurl wasn't going to listen to it. **No.** No talking with the goblins. No talking with any of them. It'd just lead to bad things. Talking with almost everybody led to bad things.

The labyrinth faded from her eyes to be replaced with the same old cracked ceiling of her room. No longer in a crib, she rolled over in her fold up mattress and stared at her collection of home-made toys, then out of the streetlamp lit, curtainless window above her head. With another soft sigh, she pulled out the needle and thread from her pyjama pockets and started to consider how to make her newest toy friend.

* * *

"Hey! Those are my pencils! What are you doing with them?" Screeched one of Gurl's classmates the next morning, snatching the items from her hands.

"...I- I'm d-d-drawing a picture of my friend."

"You don't have any friends. Don't lie to me."

"I- I'm not Abby... Hi- his name is Hoggle and... he's a goblin I think. H-he lives in my dream m-maze and I go there every time I sleep and-"

"Shut up. Dreams don't work like that! Give me back my pencils!"

"D- dreams d-do work like that! I get to go on a-an adventure every night... and- and these are the s-school's, they're e-everyone's, not yo-"

"No, you're lying! There's no such thing as a goblin maze. Those are my pencils! I was using them you lier! I hate liars. I'm tell-AH!"

"Now Lucy, what's this I hear about you stealing things and fighting with Abby? I thought you two were friends."

Gurl looked up at the disappointed face of Mr Parham towering over her, her eyes quickly dipping down to his upturned nose, unable to reach his eyes. She instead focused on pushing the words she was thinking, out of tight lips and a heavy tongue.

"...I- I d-d-don't have... she st-started it. It's not fair. I d-didn't-"

"You're lying to me Lucy, I can tell. I want you to tell me the truth. I thought you were better than this."

Gurl was silent.

"Tell me the truth Lucy. Why did you hit her?"

Gurl didn't say anything.

"I'm disappointed in you Lucy. I really am. I am going to have to call your mother about this I'm afraid."

Gurl couldn't say anything.

And that was the way of it from that day on.

* * *

During play time, she'd sit in a corner of the playground, quietly playing with her toys or reading a book. In lessons, she'd work hard but never put her hand up. At home she'd keep her mouth shut as she sat, unmoving, in front of the TV.

It went on that way for a long time. Too long, too many months, too many years.

It was only when she was truly alone that she ever opened her mouth, most often only to sing.

"On that midnight train to Georgia," she would sing into the ringing empty silence of her home. "Leaving on a midnight train to Georgia, woo woo. I'd rather live in his world - live in his world..."

Singing was less easy during her nights but she'd do it anyway, softly mumbling words under her breath or silently mouthing the lyrics. All the while, she'd duck and hide and play all the night away, watching the curious goblins as they laughed and tripped over each other and belted out songs on the top of their lungs. She loved those moments, they all seemed so bright and colourful, but she wouldn't have intruded in it for anything.

One of her favourites to watch were the fire goblins, or 'firies' as they were sometimes called. They were the ones who had actually got her singing again. The first time she'd noticed them (as she was fishing for frogs in one of the many stagnant pools of their forest) and saw them setting their fingers on fire and detaching their body parts like a mere party trick, she was admittedly shocked. She would have squealed aloud if her voice hadn't almost dried up in her throat by that point. But then they started to make music, and they danced and they jumped around each other and played and- and- it looked so much fun. Their songs seemed to suit them so well, like fire in their veins, relaxingly warm and burning with excitement in equal measure. Gurl started to hum along with them from her hiding spot in the trees.

She wondered sometimes what her song would be. It'd be slower, that much she was sure of. Less warm and certain. Almost like tacky mud to slip on. She tried not to think of it for too long, instead thinking of the songs that would suit her friends (well, the goblins she liked to watch the most and had made toys of.)

* * *

Ducking down into the hidden entrance of an oubliette, making sure to stay out of reach of the 'helping hands', Gurl smiled as she watched her Hoggle slouched past her with endless sighs on his lips. She would have been a few feet taller than him now if she had stood tall next to him. Not that she would have even thought of doing that. Slipping out like a smoky shadow, Gurl followed the dwarf, keeping close to the ground and the stone wall. A light crackle of an unseen leaf underfoot prompted Gurl to jump up and scale the wall (all that climbing of trees and playground fences had paid off) just in time for Hoggle to spin around with a glare.

"Shove off whoever you are," he grumbled before turning back and slouching off.

Gurl puffed out her cheeks and let out a soft sigh before humming softly under her breath, staring up at the forever blue sky. She sneezed as a pinch of glittering dust wound up her nose and blessed herself. The sound of her voice was swallowed up into the silence hanging heavily around her. Gurl felt her brow contort into a frown before shaking her head and jumping down, softly mumbling the words of a new song.

"Will you recognise me? Call my name or walk on by. Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling down, down, down, down."

Slipping through an unseen gap in a hedge, Gurl danced along the dusty passage, grimacing softly at the brown, gritty reflections of herself lining the way, as she sang a little louder.

"Don't you, forget about me. Don't, don't, don't, don't. Don't you, forget about me."

"Now who is that?"

Gurl froze. The voice had come from behind the hedge to her right, a deep, assured voice she'd have sworn she'd never heard before... but...

"I wonder where you are singer. You're going to show yourself to me."

And Gurl was running, ducking into the westwards facing sand-glass mirror with barely a ripple in its thin, plastic like skin and squeezing herself into the shadow of a crack where a rough carved passage lay through earth and rock.

A shadow of a tall figure seemed to billow up out of the darkness ahead and Gurl span around, ducking into a small shaft to her right and ignoring the Warning Walls as they opened their stony mouths to practice their lines. She shook her head apologetically as she whipped past them. A chorus of disappointed sighs followed her along with the echoing sound of footsteps, not running yet but certainly quick to be that close. This goblin was fast. Time to go faster. Clambering up, Gurl wrenched herself along the rough rocky walls surrounding her and jumping off it to a passageway to her right, ignoring the scream from her legs as she pushed them far too hard. The surface opened up above her as she all but flew out of the large vase her path had led her to and bolted to the hedge row, burying herself in the twisting foliage. There was no longer the slow sound of steps behind her, instead came the soft slapping sound of shoes on stone, of someone running.

Time to wake up.

Her eyes snapped open as she threw herself forward, breathing heavily in the gloom, wincing at the pain rippling through her overworked muscles.

That... that wasn't just a dream, was it?

She knew it already, no one had dreams like hers. She had always treated them like they were real since it felt like they were... but she'd never thought about it all being actually real before. How come no one else ever went to the labyrinth (as the goblins called it) in their dreams? Was it even a dream? Was her bed left empty when she went on her adventures? What was that place really? Where was it?

A headache flared across her skull and Gurl put those thoughts to rest, instead pulling her toy fox-dog of Sir Didymus, into her chest and breathing hard against the scratchy material. How long she sat like that, she wasn't sure, but she did know that sunlight had started to shine through her window by the time the headache had abated.

With a weary gaze, Gurl turned to look at her alarm clock then to the new(-ish) school uniform hanging from the door. She stared at the grey skirt and striped blouse, thinking of her Mum's new boyfriend, Henry, who had bought it for her. He appeared to be very nice, not that interested in her for the most part but nice, and he **seemed** much better than the last one...

Shaking her head of these odd thoughts, Gurl got up and unenthusiastically started to get changed for her first day of secondary school.

It was time to be awake...


	5. Chapter 5

**Woohoo! Very excited, me and my fabulous beta, Sazzle76, have been cracking out the chapters and I've got a fair few updates ready to put out. The next chapter will have to be after I get back from my road trip holiday to Ireland I'm going on in a few days. Very excited to visit all the Heritage sites, see lots of cows and drink whisky, it's going to be great!**

 **Anyway, I've got a large chapter to put up today so I hope that whomsoever reads this enjoys it as I much as I did writing it.**

 **Songs for this chapter include:**  
 **'As the world falls down' David Bowie. www . youtube watch?v=VppuD1St8Ec**  
 **'Think of me' The Phantom of the Opera. www . youtube watch?v=XfTgCPUJwRk**

* * *

The facts were these; Secondary School was, as Gurl predicted, not good, and Henry was, as Gurl expected, not nice.

The Labyrinth turned into less of a playground and more of a sanctuary and shelter for those next few years than it had ever been before.

Her nights there were the high points of these years. She discovered so many things as she pushed past the Fireys forest, in the hopes of finding distractions from the more mundane world. The bog of eternal stench, while a vile discovery, led to a really cool forest which, in turn, led to the largest junk pile Gurl had ever seen.

The sky was red and dark and amazing to behold, especially after the many years she had tried to figure out the unchanging grey-blue skies of the stone passageways. Perhaps the red was a reflection of the fires always burning in the rubbish fields, fed by the countless trash goblins that wobbled their way through the mess.

It was easy enough to avoid the trash goblins, after she had realised what exactly they were. The collections on their backs was stacked in a certain way, easy to spot once you learned the trick. They all made such a racket as well, with banging pots and moaning grumbles, that it was easy for her to sing as she weaved her way past them.

It was there that Gurl heard the music coming from the castle for the first time. She hadn't initially wanted to get any closer to the castle than she had been, having overheard many stories of King Jareth's temper. But, as she listened to the low, crooning song emanating from the turrets and echoing across the rubbish fields, she couldn't help but wonder what this kingdom was like.

"As the pain sweeps through, makes no sense for you. Every thrill is gone. Wasn't too much fun at all, but I'll be there for you... As the world falls down. Falling. Falling in love..."

Gurl lay back in a soft pile of abandoned and forgotten toys, gazing up at the red sky as she listened to the king's voice. It was familiar, different and distorted through song but so familiar. And not at all how she imagined.

* * *

It was sometime after Gurl's fourteenth birthday that things really started to change. For one thing, Henry had proposed to Mum. Gurl didn't have much say in this and the wedding plans didn't seem to involve her, so it didn't really have the biggest impact on her other than a growing sense of dread.

An aspect of life that had a larger impact on her, and this time for the better, was her discovery of the yearly drama performances at school.

She had sat enraptured in her seat as she watched the upper years act out 'Sweeny Todd' in all its musical and blood filled glory. Something about it all; the costumes, the singing, the fluid and almost believable expressions of joy and hate, it just set her blood aflame. The closest comparison she had for it was the feeling she got listening to the goblin songs. In the waking world, it was the closest she could get to this and, for once, she wasn't going to let something that made her feel like this go.

To watch it once a year, it wasn't enough. So, biting down years of silence and apprehension, she made a choice.

* * *

"Think of me... Think of me fondly, when we say good bye." Gurl crooned to a one-eyed teddy bear. "Remember me, once in a while please promise me you'll try. When you find, that once again, you long to take your heart back and be free. If you ever find a moment, spare a thought for me..."

Her voice faded as she thought of those lyrics, staring blankly into space with dry, dull eyes before shaking her head and trying again.

"Think of me, think of me waking, silent and resigned. Imagine me, trying too hard to-"

A loud clang echoed through the fields of rubbish, putting thoughts of lyrics from Gurl's mind. Blinking, she sat up from her makeshift bed of toys, watching as the goblins around started shifting as the clanging sound echoed again.

"There's a new runner!" exclaimed the trash lady Gurl had often noticed collecting toy bears and anything kitschy.

A new runner? Gurl thought back to the stories of Mr and Mrs Worm, of the boy who clawed at the walls of the maze for his little brother, never to get through, of the mother who ran like a mad person, falling short of time just as she reached the Fireys' forest; and of the one who won, who claimed her brother back and beat the King at his own game. The one who vanished.

That must mean... there was a child in the Labyrinth.

Eyes alight with curiosity, Gurl turned to look at the castle, where she had never dared to go before.

Surely... surely they'd be so distracted by the child that perhaps Gurl could have a look. Perhaps she could finally see the Goblin City.

Stealing herself, Gurl gathered together the toys around her, thoughtfully appraising them.

"Want t-to come on a-a-an adventure with me?" she asked them. They made no reply but Gurl took this for assent and started to gently pull apart their seems, deftly flattening out their fur and removing their stuffing, whispering soft apologies for her rough hands as she did so.

With her own needle and a limited amount of thread, borrowed from the toys' seams, she stitched the material together to create a mottled floor-length fur coat, the largest head of one toy as her mask. Its warped glass eyes were poked out in favour of small holes for her to see through.

"Let's go on our a-adventure," she half whispered, half sang to the toys that were helping her. Clambering down the toy pile, she was unaware of the soft, stitched smile growing on her mask.

On that day, the gate to the Goblin City was open as many creatures ran to and fro, excitement bubbling from their lips and shouting out from their bumbling dance like movements.

The sky turned grey again as she stepped through the great entrance, slipping into the throngs of goblins that sprang along the streets.

It was fun in a way, bobbing along with a similar spring in her step. She felt like one of those actors on the stage, and to get so close to everyone! It was equal parts terrifying and exhilarating.

In addition to the jubilant air, the goblin town was amazing to look at. The small towering houses were bent like crooked chimneys, cobble stones acted like ladders up the steeper slopes of the winding alleys. And there were so many of these twisted paths, little door-ways and different routes to go down, that this too looked like a part of the Labyrinth.

For a while, no one looked at Gurl as she skipped her way along the outskirts of the city, dancing her way along with them with wide, excited eyes. That is, until she got closer to the castle. There she stopped. Or, to put it more accurately, there she was stopped.

"Stop I say. Who are you?"

Gurl's eyes widened with recognition, turning slowly to meet the gaze of her unknowing friend.

She opened her mouth to speak, only to close it again as the words dammed themselves behind her lips.

She hesitantly bowed to the knight, before embarrassment overcame her and she abruptly straightened up.

Sir Didymus lightly frowned in confusion at this but seemed pleased with the intention.

"Hmm... I don't believe I have encountered you before, but you seem quite knowledgeable of proper etiquette," the fox-terrier raised his white puffy eyebrows and smiled, fixing Gurl with a scrutinising look.

"..." Gurl opened her mouth but nothing came out from her leaden tongue or numb lips.

"Are you here to visit the castle?" Sir Didymus enquired.

Gurl nodded, the stitching of her mask pulling with her face slightly, to spread into a timid smile to mirror her own.

"Oh, well if that's the case, then I see no harm in allowing you to proceed. There are many fine guards both inside and outside the castle, though none so fine as myself I must say. Please observe our great work," Sir Didymus paused and gave Gurl a kind smile. "Don't be worried, everyone, apart from me of course, is a little scared their first time in the castle. There's nothing to fear." And with that, he turned away, unaware that he had forever won a place in Gurl's heart with those simple but kind words.

It took a moment for Gurl to shake herself from the slight daze that had overcome her. She turned to the castle entrance again, slowly climbing the uneven set of steps as goblins excitedly rushed past her. They all looked so different from each other; bodies grey, black, blue, green and brown, with a huge variety of faces and a whole range of shapes and sizes. Some had small pinpricks for eyes, others had eyes the size of saucers and huge toothy mouths. Noses varied from buttons to elephant trunks, and all of them had different clothing. But every single one of them was filled with such excitement and enthusiasm that it was contagious.

Gurl found herself smiling for them, life was dull for the citizens of the Labyrinth, although Gurl found it hard to understand why at times, and any change was a source of joy for them. It was just a shame that it took the kidnapping of a child to bring this much happiness.

Making her way through the castle now, Gurl stopped herself thinking of this. Focusing instead on matching her movements with those around her, taking care to have joy radiating from her every step like the others.

A cry, sounding sharply through the halls, put a stop to her act for a moment. It was the cry of a very young child...

Gurl shook her head and forced herself to skip again, following the noise into a crowded room.

An empty throne stood watch over the circular expanse, just before a small dip in the floor where the crying emanated from.

"Hey, hey don't cry little one!" shouted the goblins around it.

"Hey, hey, look at me! Give us a smile, I bet you have such a pretty smile!"

The crying cut off for a moment, then restarted, but quieter this time, slightly less sure. Gurl lifted herself up to sit on one of the large, stone shelves that encircled the room, allowing her to see the child.

If Gurl had ever seen a photograph of herself when she was young, she may have compared the experience of seeing this little girl with looking at one. The child had curly, un-brushed hair, worn and unwashed clothes. On her skin a red rash bloomed instead of rosy cheeks, but her eyes... her eyes were what really grabbed Gurl's attention.

"Hope Goblin King come back soon," commented the goblin to Gurl's left, making her jump slightly with the surprise of being directly addressed. "He has way with not-wanted ones. Has way with all them by truth..."

Gurl glanced at the worried looking bird-like goblin with a questioning tilt to her head, then turned back to the child.

Not wanted...

"Oh, not all unwant-like. Daddy running still," the goblin grumbled, somehow misreading Gurl's tenseness for disgust. "Right waste space though, me tell you. I in collection party, and King watching him before wish made, not look happy." Noticing Gurl's questioning gaze, he added on "King likes playing-like with good ones, gets big smile on face he does. No smile. Daddy's likely doing run to save own skin."

Gurl glanced back at the child, who was staring at the strange faces around her with wide eyes and trembling lips, and nodded to herself.

"He ain' gonna make it through the maze in a hundred years," another goblin cackled from just below them, muted red hair bobbing with her laughter.

"No, King not let him," the bird-like goblin nodded before dropping down with a flutter of his wings to join the horde of cooing goblins.

How long Gurl sat and watched them slowly cheer the child up, she didn't know. What she did know was that she only got up when the sobbing faded, and only left when the little girl had started to shyly smile back at the strange creatures who were being so nice to her.

Gurl stood outside the chained doors of the castle, staring at the small city before her, and slowly came to the realisation that she needed to see this runner. She didn't know why but... it was important...

She skipped down the steps, waving shyly at Sir Didymus as she passed him. He was talking with the guard, so she slouched out of the gates and back into the trash fields.

Free of scrutiny, Gurl started running, scanning her surroundings to find the nearest oubliette entrance.

A few years after almost getting trapped in her first oubliette, Gurl had looked up the meaning of the word and quickly found that she disagreed with the definition. Sure, she agreed that there was an opening at the top of them, like in the pictures, but it certainly wasn't the only way in and out.

Jumping down through a peculiarly placed chimney shoot, Gurl waved off the bemused 'helping hands' and landed with a soft grunt into the dark. As her eyes adjusted to the black, she scanned her surroundings, looking for the- ah. There it was.

Taking one step forward, then another, the steep walls of the oubliette shot up around her as she sped through the crack in the wall, panting lightly as she pounded through the dark passage, her steps heavy and echoing through the dark. Light shone to her right and left and she took a moment to orient herself, before looking up and scaling the rocky walls towards the faint crack of light there.

With a quick check of her surroundings, she leaped out, stumbling as the world shrunk again, to have the floor much closer to her feet than she thought. Then she stumbled again as the world rumbled under her feet.

"GGGGRRRUUUUAAAHH!"

Suddenly all the determination, that had filled her to the brim just moments prior, shrunk back down to the size of a pea and she buried herself in the nearest hedge.

"GUAH GRRUUUAH!"

"Get back you fucking monster!"

Gurl blinked. That was a human voice. Goblins swore all the time but they never used that word, and their voices were usually... well Gurl wasn't sure how their voices were different, just that they were a bit more deep and higher? Or perhaps more mischievous?

"C-c'mon feet," she whispered to herself, forcing her stumbling limbs to move. Slowly, carefully, Gurl weaved herself through the hedge, following the human voice and echoing, frenzied yells.

The scene that unfolded before her, by rights, should have terrified her. A large monster with pointed horns, teeth as thick and sharp as the largest of kitchen knifes and a stature at least twice the size of the tallest goblin she'd ever seen, was looming over a short, slightly balding man armed with a lance.

She wasn't terrified though. All her terror had melted away from the new emotion coursing though her veins: Anger. Gurl had learned many years ago to look past the surface of things and it was as easy as breathing to see what was happening here.

The man held a weapon that he had stolen, for she recognised the bright yellow lance of one of the goblin jousters, and the red coated creature was standing, backed into a corner, only swiping out it's claws when the man's lance got too close. Gurl could see, even from her distant hiding place, that grey blood was weeping down the creature's fur.

No. This couldn't- no. Grabbing ahold of one of the branches in the bush, Gurl quietly asked for its help. The bush shuddered slightly and the branch came loose in her hand.

"Thank you," she whispered before turning to leave the hedge, only to stop.

Move.

Her feet wouldn't move.

Move feet! She shouted at herself, teeth gritted as she finally forced one foot forward, almost tripping with the jolting movement, then another, then the other until she was suddenly running behind the man, bringing the large branch low across the ground so to sweep at his feet.

The man fell, weapon clattering from his fingers. Before his desperate, scrambling hands could grab for it, Gurl stepped down on the weapon, causing the human to skitter back in surprise. Gurl watched him silently behind the deformed face of the threadbare teddy bear. Dark, green eyes glinting from the shadowed holes.

"It- it was attacking me! I had to-" he started to shout, jumping back from the figure before him, stopping short as a wooden club was shoved mere inches from his face, freezing just before it struck him.

He ran, barely sparing a glance behind him. Gurl let out a long breath, almost sagging to the ground as the burst of adrenaline left her.

"Sahwah?"

Gurl straightened up and turned back, confusedly tilting her head to the side as she watched the monster that had been screaming not moments before. It crouched down before her with a large, kind smile. Gurl took in that smile with hungry eyes for a moment before shaking her head.

"That's not my n-name."

The words had slipped out before she could even notice them. She blinked and tensed up in surprise, barely able to hear the monster's next words.

"No. Sahwah friend," he boomed, pointing at her then himself.

Gurl stared at him, mouth opening as she carefully guided the words from her lips.

"Y-You c-c-can call me that if you like... w-what's your name?"

"Ludo," the creature smiled.

Gurl returned the smile, forgetting for a moment that Ludo couldn't see it, unaware that he read the gesture in the way her eyes crinkled.

"C- c- c'mon Ludo, let's go take a look at those cuts. W- we need to clean them..."

Ludo nodded slowly, looking down at himself with surprise, as if he'd forgotten that he'd been injured. Turning to Gurl, he held out his huge, talloned hand for her to take.

With a slightly nervous nod, Gurl put her mittened hand in his, watching as he gently held it between two fingers.

"Thanks Sahwah..."

"N-no problem Ludo," Gurl returned, her smile growing twofold with every word as she led him to the hedge, gently returning the branch she had borrowed as she did so.

"Thank you," she nodded to the hedge before walking into it once more, only stopping when she felt a slight tug on her hand.

"C- c'mon Ludo, it's this way," Gurl reassured him, blinking in confusion as Ludo stopped and shook his head, large ears flapping by his neck.

Gurl stepped out, looking from Ludo to the hedge and back again. Comprehension dawned.

"Oh Ludo, d-don't worry. Y-you'll fit, I swear. Just step into every gap of the hedge, walking slowly, look I'll help you find them. The- there's one just here, to your right."

With Gurl's patient guidance and soft instructions, Ludo slowly eased himself into the dense hedge, following each of his friend's steps.

"There, t-that was easy enough wasn't it?" Gurl smiled, leading her lumbering friend to the water pump, in the center of the clearing they found themselves in.

Just as Gurl had filled one of the buckets, a large clanging noise echoed through the air. It was the same noise as earlier...

"T-that sound... the man d-didn't succeed did he?"

Ludo looked up, seemingly considering the sound as it rang out twice more, then shook his head while Gurl started pouring the water over his cuts.

"No. Time gone."

"Huh... I th-thought runners were given thirteen hours," Gurl mumbled to herself, voice heavy with confusion.

Ludo simply shrugged and said "Time funny here."

Gurl's hand stilled.

"Oh. Oh dear." Gurl stood up and stared at the sky, no change but then again there never was.

"Sorry Ludo! I've g-got to go, uh- w-will you be okay from here or do you want me to take you so-somewhere?"

Ludo shook his head, taking the bucket from Gurl and emptying it over his head with a smile.

Gurl returned the smile, again forgetting her mask, and turned and ran into the hedge.

Time to wake up.

* * *

With a gasp, Gurl threw herself out of bed, scrambling to her draws for her school clothes only to stop dead as she realised she could clearly see them. It wasn't night time any more.

With a pained wince firm on her face, Gurl turned to look at her cracked alarm clock. It was midday. She'd missed half a day of school... and by the time she would have gotten there, with no bus to catch, it would have been home time. She prayed that no one would notice. Shouldn't be hard. Barely anyone noticed her anyway... Gurl sighed to herself, falling back into her lumpy bed with a jangle of broken springs, as if it would be that easy.

Silence filled the room, slowly easing Gurl's fears of discovery as she stared up at the deep crevices lining her ceiling and smiled. She had spoken to someone. Sometimes she feared she imagined her own voice and was truly mute. But no, Ludo heard her, spoke to her... smiled at her. She wondered if she could do the same things outside of her maze. Maybe she could talk here too. Maybe she could do everything she did there. Could she step through the cracks here too? Scuttle out of a mouse hole and into the sunshine outside?

Shaking her head of these wishful thoughts, Gurl threw herself from her bed and out of her room-

Only to freeze and drop to the ground on seeing the crown of Mum and Henry's heads, over the back of the sofa.

"Did you hear something love? I felt a draft," said Mum, turning around slightly. Henry just shrugged, taking a long sip of his drink and focusing on the quiet buzz of the telly.

Gurl muffled her breathing as she hid behind the sofa, desperately trying to think of a way back without getting noticed. But her mum's next words drove all thoughts of escape firmly from her mind.

"We'll have to stop all those drafts when the baby gets here."

"Babies are fine with a little wind," Henry snorted, taking another long sip of his drink and passing it to mum.

"Nah Henry, I'm gonna be good with this one. No drinks at all, you know what it did to the girl."

Hand clamped tight over her mouth, slowly, painfully slowly, Gurl edged back into her room, freezing whenever she heard a slight shift from the cheap, crackly leather of the sofa.

Only when the door lay carefully shut between them did she let herself react.

Oh! A little baby. She was going to have a sister! Or a brother! She smiled for a moment, it was a toothy smile, entirely too large for her face and almost ugly, but for the honest warmth of the expression. It quickly drained off though as she heard the heated sounds of an argument starting behind the door.

She was going to have a tiny, defenseless, little baby in her life...

Oh.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Back from my holiday in Ireland! It's soooo much warmer now, which is strange since Ireland is really close to where I live so it shouldn't be that different weather-wise.**_

 _ **Anywho, here's another chapter of the Gurl and I hope you lovelies enjoy it :) xxxx**_

* * *

In the end, Gurl didn't get in trouble for the missed day of school. No one noticed she was gone and she couldn't quite decide whether that was extremely lucky or extremely sad. It didn't matter either way as she had a new problem on her hands and all thoughts of luck, good or bad, were pushed to the side.

How was she going to look after the baby? If mum was going to be 'good' it was unlikely Gurl was going to be let within five feet of the baby as things were.

Gurl would have to really work to get Mum to even vaguely trust her. Henry wouldn't care whether she was around the baby or not, but Gurl knew Mum would get funny about it. And by that she didn't mean the 'ha ha' kind of funny. So, she came up with a plan. To anyone else it would seem a simple plan, but to Gurl the very idea of it was daunting. She needed to start talking at home again. She could do it with Ludo, so maybe she'd be able to with mum? Not right away of course, Gurl remembered her comment on not wanting the baby to be like Gurl and didn't want mum drinking again. She didn't know that much about babies yet, but even she knew that drinking when pregnant was bad for them.

Her plan, however, proved harder than she initially hoped. Her best attempts at talking were filled with mouthed words and stuttering sounds. It was odd seeing how easily she could sing and how good she was slowly getting at talking with Ludo. Her feeble efforts at communicating with Mum caused more annoyance than anything else. This reaction didn't really help Gurl, but she was determined to do this. She would talk if it was the last thing she did.

Strangely enough, in the end, it was school that came to the rescue for once, namely in her drama lessons.

"Imagine a time when you have felt happy, when something went well or you had fun. Imagine it filling you up from your chest, rising all the way to your mouth and your eyes. Smile with it, beam and say the words, 'oh it's so nice to see you again!'"

Gurl stared at Miss Halpin, practically goggling at her as a happy grin rippled over the woman's features and transformed her face from bland and grumpy to delighted and engaging. To Gurl's right, three boys were whispering to each other and behind two girls were having a thumb war, but Gurl only had eyes her teacher.

"Any volunteers?"

Everyone stopped talking as Gurl put her hand in the air, even the teacher seemed slightly taken aback.

"Oh, Lilly. You want to have a go?" she asked, getting her name so wrong it was unreal. No one seemed that bothered about correcting her, Gurl the least.

Gurl nodded, stood up, walked to the front of the class and smiled.

One of the kids burst out laughing in the back. Gurl looked down, eyes fixed on the frayed laces of her shoes. No. No, this wouldn't do. Things don't always work the first time.

Just as she could see the teacher huffing up to yell at the class, Gurl turned sharply on her heal to face the boy who laughed.

She remembered something fun; _The sight of the firies trying to pull off a grumpy Hoogle's arm and getting a whack for their troubles, the silly joking rhymes of Mrs Worm, the fast-paced chicken races the goblins hold each year through the hedge mazes._

And she started laughing. The boy stared nonplussed at her as she giggled, facing him with delight clear on her face.

"Hello," she beamed, half singing, half speaking as she faced her audience.

"What the fuck?" murmured her classmate.

Gurl smiled once more, quick and tight at the teen before turning to her teacher.

"T-Thanks," she said, face blank again, as if the light inside had been switched back off.

Needless to say, Miss Halpin took a little more interest in Gurl after that. She even managed to learn, what the teacher thought was, her real name. This didn't matter that much to Gurl though, she just carried on as usual in her other lessons and ignored the contemplative looks some of her classmates threw her. She had bigger things to think about.

* * *

The next few months seemed to go by both quickly and slowly at the same time. Her days were filled to the brim with cooking and cleaning, trying anew to prove her worth to her family. She attempted now and then to talk to her mum with small, short words, whenever the woman was in a good enough mood to risk it. Henry generally ignored her, as usual, but seemed happy about the slight improving quality of meals... most of the time. Gurl quickly learned that underdone was better than overdone when it came to Henry. Mum still treated her the same for the most part, but seemed to slowly be more accepting of giving her jobs to do, like getting the shopping or collecting and sorting through the post. They even let her come to the reception for the wedding. Mainly to help set up the pub and tidy afterwards, but still, she got to have a bit of cake.

Gurl's nights had changed significantly too. No longer did she aimlessly wander down empty passageways or sing songs to the wind and sky. She now had someone to walk with, to sing to. She had found a friend in Ludo, a real friend, not a simple, voiceless toy.

And she had found a charge.

Sneaking into the goblin castle had become almost a daily occurrence, and she was under no illusions about how well her disguise would fool the Goblin King if he caught her. She was surprised it fooled any of them really. But that wouldn't stop her as she crept through the passages, vanishing into the gaps between the paving slabs at the mere hint of well-tailored shoes upon stone.

Every night she tiptoed through to the throne room and smiled at the little girl buried in a mound of goblins, beckoning her to follow whenever Gurl caught her awake.

"Here y-you go Grace," she would smile at the little girl, handing her a freshly fixed pony toy or a pretty bauble made from the glass of the sand mirrors.

"King Jareth says my name is Buttons, Miss Bear," Grace would often tell her, but with a little smile on her plump, grey lips.

It wasn't every day that Gurl had managed to slip into the castle to tell Grace her name, and it had taken its toll on the child.

She wasn't a proper goblin. She still had the body and facial structure of a human, but she had grown five inches in a week, her peachy skin had taken on a grey shine, the edges blending into grey and black, and she sported long fingers and a blackened nose. It wasn't just physical changes though. Oddly, seeing as most Goblins had the vocabulary range of a senile parrot, Grace had started to understand many more words and even started to talk in full sentences, when she could barely string two words together a few months ago. She still smiled hugely though whenever she saw 'Miss Bear', and that was enough for Gurl.

"You can have t-two names you know, G-Grace Buttons," Gurl would tell her back, ruffling the curls on the girl's head. "Just remember-"

"Just remember not to tell them about the names, or they might be grumpy with you," Grace Buttons interrupted with a cheeky grin. "I know Miss Bear."

She'd heard the goblins whisper about the girl on her journeys in and out. It hadn't gone unnoticed that the transformation wasn't complete, but the goblins loved the girl regardless, speaking of her in doting tones even when questioning her slow changes.

"Today, King Jareth told me I must be strong and that I look kinda like him! And that I talk good too! He said it's interesting to talk with me!" Grace told her one night in excited tones "He said, when I'm even stronger, I can even go learn to be a guard or a knight if I want!"

Gurl smiled at that, not particularly bothered about the prospect of Grace being given this position. The girl now looked to be five or six years old and had a strong, sturdy frame. Besides, the Knights hardly ever did anything dangerous. Play-jousting seemed to be their main job when not training with Sir Didymus, and Gurl was certain he would look after Grace very well.

She would only ever spend a little while with Grace Buttons each night though, suspicions were rising about the little walks the girl was taking at night.

"Where you go at night, Buttons?" asked the winged goblin whom Gurl had once met before.

"Can't tell you. It's a see-cret," Grace Buttons returned with a happy giggle.

The goblin looked worried at that but made no mention of it to the King as far as Gurl could tell. That's not to say Gurl still didn't have a few close calls. The worst one had been about two weeks into her initial decision to help Grace. She hadn't yet realised that she could step into the gaps between the slabs or that the shadows of doors could sometimes be doors themselves. So had been mainly relying on her disguise, ducking down with a deep hood shadowing her teddy bear face when anyone she deemed 'slightly more intelligent' wondered by. It had paid off so far. But the 'so far so good' grace period had been about to run out.

* * *

The Goblin king was in the same room, she couldn't see him from her angle, being hidden behind one of the huge stacks of glitter-drenched firewood, but she heard him humming a soft tune and could see the bubbles floating past her.

 _Is he Glinda the Good Witch or something?_ she thought incredulously, as she fought down the urge to bolt.

She had just been looking for Grace's new sleeping place to try and wave her over, when she heard the tell-tale sound of soft leather boots on stone. None of the goblins she knew were that soft of step, and it sounded worryingly familiar. So, she had darted into the closest room she could and promptly blessed her luck at the huge log storage pile.

Why the hell the King was sitting on the window sill with a bubble blower was beyond Gurl's understanding though. Perhaps he liked glittery wood, perhaps this was a place to get away from the other goblins, or maybe it just had a nice view from the window. All Gurl knew was that it felt like her luck was turning to rubbish.

As she laid there, staring up at the stone arches of the ceiling and not even daring to get a good look at the King, she found she was glad she'd hid in time. Gurl was less glad about the whole 'trapped until he left' thing though. Sure, she could fade away if needed, but leaving behind her fur disguise would just lead to questions... and a most likely horrified Grace. So, like it or lump it, Gurl was stuck. It wasn't so bad really, that is until the King started to sing softly.

"I, I will be king, and you, you will be queen... Though nothing, will drive them away. We can beat them, just for one day. We can be heroes, just for one day...And you, you can be mean-"

The song cut off for a moment and Gurl forced her breaths to come out slow and quiet. Oh, this was so embarrassing. She was eaves dropping on the King singing with bubbles. She begged to whatever higher powers ruled this land, baring the King himself, that she wouldn't be discovered.

"Though nothing, will keep us together. We could steal time, just for one day..."

The voice started again, and while this should have made Gurl give out a sigh of relief, she found she could hardly even breathe.

The voice was moving. The. Voice. Was. Moving.

Cracks, cracks- where are the cracks!? She desperately thought, running her hands over the smooth stone around her.

"Now, I wonder who's paid me a visit today..." the King purred, mere feet away from Gurl's hiding place.

Okay. No cracks. Time to improvise. Grabbing a small sheet of loose bark from the log pile, Gurl flattened it against the darkest part of her shadow, only for it to crack in her hand. Another piece was wrenched off and gently smoothed down this time, allowing Gurl to pull a new door open out of the shadow. Crawling forward into the small, midnight-black passage, she closed the door just in time to see a large, ornate boot land next to it. After that she ran like the devil was on her heals.

It was only after she sprang up in her bed back in her room, that she realised she'd been chased by that voice before, back by the sand mirror maze.

Considering this, Gurl quickly decided that, as much as she loved the Goblin King's singing voice, she was never going to get caught out like that again.

* * *

The time that Gurl didn't spend sneaking through the castle or practicing her escape routes, she most often spent chatting with Ludo and creating things for him, Grace and sometimes Hoggle. She'd learned of the Dwarf's love of jewellery when watching him bartering for a plastic ring from a trash goblin.

Mainly she stuck to bracelets, multiple drops of sand mirror glass with flower petals and leaves, preserved inside and thread from the trash piles to connect them. She left them dangling from the branches that the dwarf walked past every day as he came back from his duties. She smiled at every grunted exclamation of happy surprise, trying to stifle her small giggles as he spun around, glaring suspiciously at the hedges.

Ludo and Grace Buttons were much less interested in jewelry, but they still liked her baubles.

"Look Ludo, it's you," Gurl said, handing Ludo a bulky sand glass figurine of himself. Ludo gently took the figurine in his hand, admiring how the light shifted through it, sparkling off the granules of sand and prisming into rainbows in the curving bends.

"How?" he would ask.

And Gurl would grin and take him through the hedges to the sand mirror maze, where she sometimes moulded blocks of earth or used her toy figures to coat them in the glass, gently pealing them out and softly guiding the glass back in place. He'd beam and clap his hands with delight as she showed him how to do it, and Gurl would light up the Labyrinth with her shy, toothy smile. Ludo liked to have a go too. He wasn't very good at it but they still had fun, him coating his arms with the substance and Gurl swiftly twisting little glass beads from the drips down his fur, singing him a new song as she worked. She'd then hold the glass up to the grey sky of the stone maze, admiring how the dull light sparkled off the granules of sand, watching them twinkle like stars as she made plans in her mind.

In turn, Ludo tried to teach Gurl how to summon rocks. It took a lot of embarrassing attempts at howling for them to discover Gurl simply didn't have the vocal range to do it. It was still pretty funny though, as Ludo burst out into deep, growling giggles at Gurl's feeble howls.

In all, things were nice. Things were going well. Things were great.

Then the baby came early.


	7. Chapter 7

**Gurl wants to be a good big sister and will do anything to do this.**

 _ **Songs:**_  
 _ **Dream a Little Dream of Me- originally by Fabian Andre, Wilbur Schwandt and Gus Kahn (I think? There are so many different covers of this song.) www . youtube . com watch?v=j6TmogXhOZ8**_  
 _ **It's Going to be Okay- from the Musical Scrubs episode. (I know, weird choice, but the song kind of felt right. Gurl hasn't watched it, she was just mumbling wishes and assurances in the form of song and it came out similar to it.) www . youtube . com watch?v=5dRBMu0smr0**_  
 _ **Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral- by Bing Crosby. www . youtube . com watch?v=aw9B49epS_M**_

* * *

The slight, shallow breaths echoed in the clear, sterile incubator. A small, red-wrinkled hand curled and uncurled as tiny eyelids fluttered and a weak heart beat. Gurl stared at him, her brother, trapped in a plastic cage which was keeping him alive. He was beautiful. Veiny, wrinkled and weak, but beautiful. She solemnly watched as he stretched out his little hands and blinked into wakefulness, not making one sound as he blindly gazed at his see-through ceiling. The doctor behind the siblings, however, was making many sounds, and none that Gurl liked.

"Your son was born at 29 weeks, which is classified as a pre-mature birth-"

"Look, I know that he's early. Does it look like I don't know that?" Mum interrupted with a hiss. "Just tell me what's gonna happen to him."

The doctor looked slightly disgruntled but opened his mouth anyway and explained. "The earlier a baby is born, the higher the chance there is of health problems. We will need to focus on finding and treating these health problems as early as possible, to help your son lead a longer, healthier life."

"Yeah but what problems?" Henry asked, staring at the baby then back to the doctor with strangely lost eyes. Gurl turned away from her brother and looked at them, gaze sharp on the exhausted looking doctor. Surely he wouldn't-

"Well... we have already scanned for bleeding in the brain, which he luckily doesn't have, but he does have Retinopathy of prematurity, an abnormal growth of blood vessels in the eye that has unfortunately led to some vision loss. Most cases are mild and heal themselves with little or no permanent vision loss, though-"

 _Wait..._

"-Unfortunately, along with this, he has a low birth weight of 3 pounds exactly, so there is the possibility he may develop diabetes-"

 _No._

"- and potentially anaemia with his decreased red blood cell count. -"

 _No, no, no. Stop it!_

"-We are currently monitoring him for apnoea, which is where premature babies sometimes have difficulty breathing. He hasn't shown any signs of it yet, but it's easy to deal with. If the baby stops breathing, we can just stimulate him to start breathing by patting him or touching the soles of his feet-"

 _Shut. Up. Please shut up!_ Gurl begged in her mind as she saw the expression forming on Mum's face.

"And, in terms of later development, there is a higher chance of learning and behaviour issu-" the doctor suddenly stopped, looking down at the young fifteen-year-old with swimming eyes who had tugged on his white lab coat.

"Thanks," she lied, teeth bared and nails digging into the unfeeling material.

The doctor blinked, then looked at the parents who were blankly gazing at the baby's incubator. Quietly, he excused himself to give the family a moment of privacy.

* * *

The baby was kept in the hospital for a few months after that. They visited him about three times a week, Gurl approaching to quietly smile down at his squished-up face and Mum talking with the doctors. Henry never came with them. By the time they brought the baby home, it was like he didn't remember he'd had a son. He hadn't even asked about the child's name. Mum told him, in one of their arguments, what it was, John. Gurl knew that wasn't her brother's name though. She'd watched as Mum randomly tried to think of a suitable name, casting her eyes over doctor's name tags and books in the waiting room. No, her brother wasn't going to be John. He wasn't going to be 'that baby' either, even if that's what Henry called him.

"Your name is Luca," she told him, craning her face over his sleeping form. "I read it once in a name book from the library. It means 'bringer of light'... Names are important Luca, and I'll help you remember yours."

Gurl couldn't go to the Labyrinth for a long time after that, wary that if she did she wouldn't be able to hear if Luca stopped breathing. She couldn't miss the sound of his squeaking cries at night, or not feed him his formula in time before he woke Mum or, worse, Henry. Luca couldn't yet understand the rules, but Gurl would help him. She was his big sister. Big sisters protect their little brothers; that's what they are for.

At first, school was rather nice about it all. They gave her time off to spend with the family. But only a few days. After that, skipping school was much harder than that one-off a few years back. After a few weeks, they warned her that if she did it again, she would be suspended. Suspension meant more time off school to help feed and clean Luca... but it also meant them calling in Mum and Henry.

The midwives were still visiting. Mum made the place look good for them and kept Luca fed during the day okay enough for them to nod and tick their boxes. So Gurl cautiously started going to school again. She would never stay late though. She would never go to after school clubs. The auditions for the school play came and went. She didn't even go to see the final performance.

Sitting in her bedroom, watching Luca gaze quietly up at the broken ceiling and feeling the silence of the empty flat echoing around her, but for the silent puffs of breath singing from her little brother's lips, Gurl finally let the words escape.

"It's not fair."

These words did not change anything. No one swooped in to help her or to make Luca better. The words just faded into the resounding silence surrounding her, as if they were never said. No one could hear them. With a sigh, Gurl roughly rubbed her cheeks and faced her little brother. She watched as his eyes unblinkingly gazed into space, tired but unwilling to close.

"Sweet dreams," Gurl murmured, pulling down the brittle, plastic bars to gently hold his clenched fist between two slender fingers. For the first time in a long time, Gurl opened her mouth to sing.

"Stars shining bright above you..." She licked her lips and leaned in closer. "Night breezes seem to whisper 'I love you'. Birds singing in the sycamore trees... Dream a little dream for me."

A soft wind whistled through the cracks of the ceiling and Gurl tucked Luca's patchwork blanket over his chest.

"Say nighty-night and kiss me," she leaned in and kissed his velvet soft cheek, a small, fragile smile on her face as he wiggled and kicked his legs. "I'll hold you tight and you'll tell me you'll miss me... While I'm alone, blue as can be... Dream a little dream for me."

Gurl smiled down at her brother as his eyelids drooped, turning his soft, unfocused gaze onto her. "Stars fading but I linger on dear, still craving your kiss," she kissed him once again. "I'm longing to linger till dawn dear, just saying thi-i-i-is... Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you. Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you... But in your dreams whatever they be. Just- just dream a little dream for me..."

Finally, her brother closed his eyes and slept. Gurl leaned back, gently pulling her finger from his slightly damp grip, and collapsed on her bed.

"It isn't fair," she murmured again, for it was the truth and it needed to be said, even if only she could hear it.

 _No it isn't. But that's the way it is._

"It doesn't have to be," Gurl growled to herself. "I'll mm-make it fair for him. If no one makes things fair it n-never will be. **I'll make it fair**." Staring at the crib, listening to his soft, whistling breaths, Gurl made her mind up.

 _One day, I'll make it fair for the both of us._

* * *

It would have been nice to say that after he settled in, Luca was a quiet baby. In a way, he was, only letting out soft squeaking complaints when he needed food or a clean nappy... but only when Gurl was around.

"Make him shut the fuck up," Mum would hiss at her as soon as she got home from school each day.

The problem was Luca wasn't happy when he was left alone. He liked being held by someone warm and cuddly, and started fussing whenever he was put down. And therein lay the problem, Gurl couldn't let him fuss. Fussing was noise and Henry hated noise. During the day it was fine as Henry was at work and, while she hated the screams, Mum wouldn't really do anything about them. Henry would though. So Gurl had to coddle Luca and smile and play with him, wincing whenever his gurgles grew too loud and desperately trying to lull him to sleep with soft words and gentle songs when he started to whine.

It was even harder when he was ill, and he was ill a lot. First it was jaundice, his skin turned yellow and his wails sounded tight and sharp. After that it was thrush, painful patches of white along his gums and across his tongue, causing him to wince and whine with pain every time he fed. Then it was a heavy rash, pneumonia, diarrhoea, hypoglycaemia…

The midwives came and went, sometimes they'd take him to the hospital, sometimes not. They dropped off medicine at almost weekly intervals and Gurl would eavesdrop on their instructions when she could, and meticulously read the medicine packaging when she couldn't. Some nights she didn't dare leave Luca's side, even for a second, as he wheezed into the orange, streetlight-stained gloom, bright eyes fixed straight above him as if seeing things Gurl could never see. She would bring cool cloths against his burning skin and whisper soft assurances into his ears as she fed him his bitter medicine, and she would sing. She would always sing.

"You're going to be okay," she breathed, voice high and sweet in her hushed song. "That's what's going to happen. E- everything's okay. I'm right here beside you, I won't let you slip away. Please come back tomorrow, because I swear to you, you're going to be okay..."

And the next day he'd be okay. He would still be ill and he'd be crying, but he would be okay that day, and the next day and the one after that. Slowly, ever so slowly, he grew. His body, while still very weak, strengthened. The illnesses were there still, but they were less frequent and they were less terrifying and Gurl started to trust that maybe he'd be fine.

* * *

"Sahwah! Back!" shouted Ludo, lumbering up to Gurl to wrap his arms around her.

"Hey Lu-udo," she smiled, finding the expression strange and unfamiliar on her face but soon forgetting this as Ludo's warm arms gently circled around her. "I cc-can't stay for long but I h-had to see you."

Ludo slowly let her go, tilting his head as he examined her. "Why?"

"I've got a l-little brother!" she explained, grabbing her friend's hand and dragging him into the hedges, looking for somewhere where no one would interrupt them. Ludo frowned at this, obviously confused about something.

"Have brother yes?"

"Yeah, I do. He's a-amazing and gorgeous but he- he's often very sick so I can't come here as much. I nn-need to stay there and help him."

Ludo didn't look too happy about that, but made no comment as they exited to the sand mirror maze.

"H-how long has it been since I was here last?" Gurl asked, taking one of the toys she had carried with her to bed and dipping it in the glass.

Ludo shrugged again. "Dunno. Time strange."

"I just hope Grace hasn't f-forgotten her name," Gurl sighed, guilt curdling in her stomach. Ludo made no comment, simply watching her with widening eyes as she peeled the toy out from the glass and pinched it back together with deft fingers.

"Know him. Ludo's Brother. Brave! Sawah's friend."

Gurl looked down at the rough, glass replica of Sir Didymus and then back to Ludo with surprise. Perhaps he was like Luca was to her, Sir Didymus' half brother? Hmm... She looked down at her cheap, plastic watch with a contemplative expression.

"We've got time, my brother usually wakes up around twelve or one... Wanna come with me and visit your brother, Ludo? I'm going that way anyhow," she explained with a small smile, just visible from a slight threadbare hole in her mask.

"Ye-ah," Ludo grinned back, taking Gurl's hands as she led him backwards through one of the sand mirrors.

"A- actually, I wanted to show you something while we're going this way," Gurl explained as they walked through the dim passageway. "I'd been making it a while ago, before my brother came, so it's not finished y-yet, but I think you'll like it."

Ahead of them there were two turnings to the left and right, Gurl ignored these and kept walking forward, drawing back the stone curtain that lay between them. On stepping through the opening, darkness ruled all, not even a glimmer of light escaping the dark curtain as she dropped it behind them.

"Look up Ludo." Gurl turned on her small pocket flashlight, pointing it up at the cavern roof and smiling at the heavy intake of breath from her friend.

"R-r-remember those beads we made when we were playing with the sand mirrors?" she asked, softly swivelling her flashlight as the glass glinted above her. "Y-you never get night here do you? I mean, the sky changes with every place you go and it's weird and great, but sss-stars? I always wished I could see the stars. B-back where I'm from there are all these orange streetlamps and light pollution, so you can't see any of the s-stars... So, this is the closest we'll ever get huh?"

Ludo was barely listening, simply staring at the sparkling reflections of the glass beads dotted above him, eyes reflecting the shaky patterns and warped constellations of those false stars. Gurl smiled at him, then up to the ceiling, softly wondering if she could ever show this to Luca. She shook her head and looked down at her watch with a soft frown.

"S-sorry Ludo, we'll have to come back here another time. I have to go back before midnight and I d-don't want to leave you here alone in the dark."

Ludo nodded quietly, following Gurl as she guided him out the cavern. She led him back along the path to the left, occasionally steering him around dangers and pulling him through different passages.

"Oh, k-keep to the right Ludo, there's an oubliette over there today. L-look, you can see the outline of the trap door."

As they clambered out of a large crevice on the edge of the bog forest, Gurl checked her watch again. Ludo was staring up at the red-tinged sky for a long moment, face expressionless, before turning back to Gurl and gently taking her hand in his. Off they went, weaving through the outskirts of the woodland and sneaking through the towering piles of rubbish, only pausing when they finally arrived at the city gates.

"I don't think I can go through this way Ludo, but it's j-j-just the right size for you," Gurl explained, pulling her hand out of Ludo's loose grip. Ludo shook his head slightly at this and firmly (but gently, always gently) grasped her hand, leading her through the doors.

The city was quiet, a few goblins pottered about, but mainly they were dozing around, chatting and drinking or just resting in the sunshine... well as much sunshine as you can get when there isn't really a sun. A few bristly eyebrows were raised at the two, fur-coated visitors, but no one paid them much attention, that is until they reached the guard house.

"Ludo! My brother-in-arms! What are you doing all the way over here? I thought you did not like the city."

Gurl felt her face light up almost as much as Ludo's, as they turned around to find Sir Didymus coming up from behind and dismounting from a very fluffy dog.

"Sahwah want visit. Take me with," Ludo explained, unaware of how both Gurl and Sir Didymus froze at those words.

"Oh... my fine fellow. I didn't know you- I thought you knew that..." Sir Didymus didn't seem to know how to say his next few words, brow furrowing as he looked to the ground with shining eyes. Sir Didymus didn't have to say anything though, as, in that exact moment, an oddly tall goblin-knight ran full pelt at Gurl, tackling her to the ground.

"Gah!" cried Gurl, wildly scrabbling back on the dust floor as the clanking goblin latched itself onto her stomach and wouldn't let go.

"I say- Buttons! Let that good fellow go now. This is most undignified!" cried Sir Didymus, striking the ground with his staff for emphasis.

"Buttons?!" exclaimed Gurl, freezing mid scrabble as she watched the figure pinning her down wrench off her helmet and glare at her.

"Miss Bear! Why did you disappear?! Where did you go?!"

Gurl didn't say anything, too busy staring in horror at the person looming over her. She was Grace, but also she wasn't Grace. Gone was any hint of pink in her skin, gone were the dainty little ears and small blunt teeth. Gone was the little girl. Instead a grey-skinned teenager sat there, looking just a few years younger than Gurl herself. She had a black hooked nose and ears that pointed out so wide, it was a surprise her helmet could fit. Her teeth were sharp and her chin unnaturally pointed. But she was still Grace in those dark, human eyes that stared furiously out at her.

"I'm s-so sorry Grace, I hh-had something I needed to do," Gurl whispered to her, heart in her mouth as she met the girl's gaze.

"What? Did you call me...? That-" Grace blinked twice then looked down at Gurl with a befuddled expression on her face. "That was my name. Grace. Grace Buttons you called me."

"That's w-who you are," Gurl nodded. "How lll-long was I away?"

"Too long," was all the answer Gurl got.

The silence stretched and was only broken by Sir Didymus' awkward cough and an invitation to a cup of tea and maybe a game of scrabble in his guard house.

* * *

"I did not know your name was Miss Bear," Sir Didymus mentioned as they all sat and he brewed a pot of eye moss tea. Ludo was leaning through one of the windows and Gurl was sat next to Grace on a squishy, vomit-green sofa, which was much too small for them both.

"You're g-good at making tea, S-Sir Didymus... i-is that your specialitea?" Gurl asked with a smiling tone, pointing at the tea pot and purposefully ignoring his unvoiced question.

"No, it is my regular tea," he replied with a bemused look in his eye. Grace Buttons got it though and started to giggle.

"Now, now Buttons, let us stop with this tomfoolery and get out the cups for our guests."

"It's Grace Buttons," she corrected him before doing as he asked.

Both Ludo and Sir Didymus exchanged an odd look at this, but didn't make any comments as she started pouring out the drinks. Gurl sighed, looking at her watch once more as her drink was set before her.

"I- I'm sorry but I won't be able to st-stay long," Gurl told them.

"But you just got here!" Grace exclaimed, almost dropping the other cups she held. "You can't go yet. That's not fair."

Gurl felt a muscle in her face twitch but managed to let out a long steady breath. "No-o, it isn't. But t-that's the way it is..." Gurl looked up from her hands, forcing them to unclench.

"Then make it fair!" snapped Grace, putting the cups down with a thump and glowering at the floor with swimming eyes.

Gurl rubbed her hands together, wincing as she felt the scratchy material of her disguise rubbing against her skin. " _Mm-make it fair._.. I- I can do that... I can't stay long but I w-w-will be back. M-my visits may be short b-but there'll be more of them. I can't offer much else rr-right now..."

Grace looked conflicted for a moment, sharp teeth worrying over her tough, leathery lips. When she finally nodded, it felt like a weight had been lifted from Gurl's chest. Irritation, worry, apprehension, it all faded.

"Thank you," Gurl murmured, closing her eyes for a moment and breathing deep. "Uh- I- I also brought you something. Um, I think y-you'll both like it ah-actually," she added nervously, looking at Sir Didymus as he surveyed her with interest. However, said interest quickly turned to the glass figurine placed before them.

"It's one of your glass figures!" exclaimed Grace with a sharp squeal of delight, ears pricking up in interest and causing Gurl to smile fondly.

"Is that-" Sir Didymus started to speak as you started to ramble nervously.

"Uh, I- I know it's not brilliant but-"

"That is me, is it not?" Sir Didymus proclaimed with happy incredulity. "My dear, I did not know you admired me so. Thank you."

Grace was giggling again, looking at Gurl with a warm gaze. Ludo was beaming down at her and Sir Didymus was preening happily, smiling up at Gurl with bright eyes.

"I- I've got to go," Gurl stood up abruptly. "Sorry, uh- see you later."

And without a backwards glance, Gurl speedily walked out of the Guard House and half ran, half jogged to one of the crevices in the city walls, only stopping to catch her shaking breath when she sat safely in the darkness.

Time to stop this, she told herself firmly. What's got into me? It's time to wake up.

Gurl stared into the darkness for a long moment and sighed, slapping her face lightly to get her focus back.

Time to wake up.

"-shut up you **COW**! Like HELL I'm not going out!"

Gurl winced as the front door and her mother's bedroom door slammed shut in a loud, mismatched unison. As quick as a thought, Gurl was scrambling up just in time to see Luca's face crumple up at the scary sounds.

"No, don't be scared, I'm here," she hushed him with her soft, gentle words, picking him up and cradling him to her chest. "Troo-la-loo-la-lah. Hush and don't you cry. Troo-la-loo-la-loo-la. That's an Irish lullaby," she breathed softly into his ears and slowly jolted him up and down. "Hush, now don't you cry."

In the dim, orange-tinged room, his eyes sparkled up at her, as beautiful as the star dotted ceiling of the glass cave, as beautiful as anything she could ever dream of.

"We're here for you Luca, your Gurl and her friends," Gurl smiled, the sound of her own name almost as odd and heavy on her tongue as the word 'friends'. She pulled out the toys from her pocket. "Look, here-here's Sir Didymus, he's a kind knight, the new guardian of the Goblin castle. He'll protect you as you sleep, he'll be your friend as well, always there when times are hard. And- and over here, this is Ludo. He just loves making new friends. I-if you're nice to him, Ludo will be your friend for life."

Luca stared at the toys bounding across his blurred vision. He looked back to his sister then back to the toys, making soft squawking noises as he watched his new companions dance past his face. Gurl smiled with him, hands as soft and gentle as her eyes, as she spoke truths and weaved tales of the ones she loved, playing games but never playing pretend.


	8. Chapter 8

_**So I think a warning is important for this chapter. If you don't have any trouble reading scenarios like this and don't want to have anything spoilt, please feel free to skip this warning:**_

 _ **️ This chapter contains descriptions of physical abuse from a parental guardian, child endangerment and blood.**_

* * *

Luca's first birthday fell on a Saturday. Mum and Henry didn't seem to have remembered, but Gurl did. She had taken him to a park, held tight in her arms as she showed him all the pretty flowers, beaming happily as he goggled at them out of the hood of his thick, third-hand coat, stiffly waving one of his arms around and trying to grab at the petals. The other arm was firmly fastened over a rather dog-eared Ludo doll, holding it tight to his chest.

"Ttthat's barberry and there's some hyacinths, s-see?" Gurl said, pointing out the purple flowers a short distance from them. "A-and look, there's aconite over there, Luca. I think they're usually found near mountains but someone mmmust've planted it here."

"Bu-bu," he bubbled, wriggling in her grip as he tried to lean forward.

"Sorry Luca, I can't let you touch those. I know they l-look nice but they're bad in your tummy."

"Ea! Ea!" he squealed before his attention was suddenly and firmly grasped by a little butterfly fluttering past them, turning his head so he could see it through the better of his emerald green eyes. He pointed at it then twisted his head up, staring at Gurl with confusion.

"That's a butterfly Luca," Gurl explained, her free hand following it to point at it with him. "They're fragile so we can't touch them, but aren't they so pretty?"

Finding a bench, Gurl sat Luca on her lap, smiling as he supported himself on his own, turning his head to follow the butterfly as it flew past them. Unseen by both, a little barn owl alighted itself on a branch above them, just as Luca started to squeal unhappily, knocking her rucksack over and spilling the contents onto the floor. Gurl sighed, cramming the things back in one-handed. She wiped the dirt off her school ID badge and checked it for scratches in the light, as she surreptitiously tucked one of the larger, rather more sparkly objects out of Luca's sight.

"Hey, what's wrong Luca? Did you want to follow that butterfly? C'mon, I want to give you something."

At the word 'give', Luca's whines quickly tapered off and he faced his sister with an expectant look.

"I've spoiled you too much, haven't I?" she sighed, smiling to herself, before pulling a paper wrapped present from under the bench. The cheap paper was covered with swirls of gold and silver glitter, meticulously drawn out for over two hours and admired for all of two seconds before Luca started putting all his focus on chewing his hand instead.

"L-Luca, have another look. Things aren't always as they seem," Gurl explained, opening the present in front of Luca. A large doll with a black nose, large ears and pointy felt teeth, tumbled out onto Luca's lap.

"Her name is Grace. She's a new friend of yours," Gurl explained, dancing the doll around Luca's lap and making it wave at her. "'Hello! Happy Birthday, Luca!' says Grace. Can you say 'hello' back, Luca?"

Luca stared at the doll, patting it clumsily on the head, but didn't say anything.

"Say 'Hello'," said Gurl again, knowing that sometimes it takes more than one try to get something right.

"Hoo!"

Gurl blinked.

"Who?" she asked.

"Hoo! Hoo!" Luca shouted, pointing at the tree behind, where a white barn owl was peering down at them.

"Wow... Luca, you can se- I-I mean- yeah, you're right! That's an owl, and they can make 'hoo hoo' noises," Gurl grinned, looking up at the owl. "Sssure is beautiful, isn't he? I wonder what he's doing o-out in the day?"

Luca didn't say anything, focusing all his attention on trying to see the owl. Gurl smiled down at him, lightly kissing the crown of his head before checking her watch.

 _Oh_.

Her smile dropped quicker than hail in a storm. If they didn't hurry now, she wouldn't have time to make dinner before mum got home.

"Sorry Luca, we've got to go," she said, stuffing everything (apart from Ludo who Luca would scream for without) into her bag and pulling her squealing brother into her arms. She half ran, half walked, conscious of jogging Luca too much, so not to make him queasy.

The owl in the tree watched them leave, hooted softly and flew away.

* * *

Gurl silently stared at the paint flecked door to their apartment. It wasn't locked. Someone was home. Mum should be home much later than this...

"Hmm?" Luca queried, craning his head backwards to try and see why his sister wasn't just going in like usual.

"You e-ever have a bad feeling about something L-Luca?" she asked him, not entirely sure why she was doing so. Luca had no answer for her, simply hanging in her arms like a cuddly sack of potatoes and bobbing his head slightly. Gurl sighed, pushing open the door, only to stop when the smell of alcohol hit her. With wide eyes, she backed away, but it was too late.

"What the fuck were you doing out?" a quiet voice asked from the sofa.

Gurl tried to speak.

"I said-"

"I- food..." she squeaked out, shifting her hold over Luca as he squirmed unhappily.

"...Did you just interrupt me?"

Gurl blanched and tried again "S-s-sorry. I-I-I didn't m-mean to."

A loud silence filled the room as Gurl stood there, uncertain of whether to get out of the way or stay very, very still.

"Well, get on with it! Where's the food?" Henry snapped, getting off the sofa to tower over Gurl, his bloodshot eyes narrowed on her.

"C-c-coming."

Henry didn't move, quietly watching her as she slowly walked to her room, skirting the edges of the living room so not to turn her back on the man.

Only once Luca was safely placed in his crib, did Gurl allow herself to breathe properly. Turning to go, she found herself stopping with a faint tug of her coat. Luca gazed up at her with a small, thoughtful frown on his face.

"Uh-oh," he told her, a big smile turning his lips. Gurl paused, realising his expectation.

(' _Uh-oh spaghetti-o! Are we a llllittle upset today Luca? How about we play the smile game? Biggest grin wins! ... Wow! What a smile! You have the best smile in the world I sw-swear!_ ')

"Sorry, Luca, not right now," Gurl sighed, kissing the top of his head as she gently untangled his hand from the frayed edges of her coat, placing the Grace doll next to him. He let out a soft whine as she left the room, but quiet enough that Henry didn't notice.

 _He normally stays at work till six. Why is he back so early?_ Gurl pondered, as she rummaged through the kitchen drawers for something 'in date' to cook. There wasn't much. Some canned hotdogs and a can of baked beans would have to do. She just hoped he was in the mood for them.

"So how much did you spend on your 'shopping trip' today girl?" Henry slurred from the archway of the kitchen, almost making her drop the frying pan.

"Nnn- n- not much, I-"

"Because I didn't see any shopping bags when you came in. What are you spending my money on?"

Gurl put the frying pan back into the cupboard, hands curiously steady as she straightened up to face him.

"A- a jar of b-baby food and a ss-s-sandwich," she explained, eyes low on the ground.

 _Don't look him in the eye. He gets angry when-_

"Look at me when you lie to me, you brain-dead bitch! You spent my money on some stupid teenage crap and now there's nothing left!"

There had been nothing left for a while now. Gurl had been buying second hand clothes and baby food using money she had taken and hoarded away from Mum. Mum just thought it was Henry, as usual. The denial hung heavy of Gurl's lips but she knew not to say it. He wouldn't believe her and he'd just get angrier that she was lying. Gurl closed her eyes, head tucked in as she waited. Then came the sound of crying.

 ** _Luca._**

Her eyes sprung open to see Henry turn from her, arm slowly lowering as he considered the door. He started moving in large powerful strides, away from Gurl, towards the sound of crying.

"No! Wait, don't!" Gurl shouted, running forward to tug at his arm as he put his meaty fist on the door handle. He shook it off and span around, staring down at her like she was dirt, like she was less than the filth that stained his shoes. Gurl didn't see his fist move, or, if she did, she didn't remember it. All she knew was that she was suddenly on the ground and her eye hurt.

"You and that stupid kid," he spat out, kicking his leg forward. "Says he's mine. Says that I have to pay for him and for the fucking dumb cunt with what little I have. Well can't pay for you now can I? Not **now**!" his voice wavered for a moment before he shook his head and hissed out another curse, slamming his foot forward into Gurl's stomach once again. "But he's not mine! How can he be?! No son. Of mine. Would. Be. A. Retard!" Each word was punctured with another heavy slam, until the only sounds filling the flat were his heavy, stuttering breaths and the wet, choking coughs coming from the floor. And, without even looking at his step-daughter, the man spat and stormed out of the flat.

* * *

Gurl stared up at the ceiling, water streaming down her face as she tried to focus on her breathing. Her stomach felt like tenderised meat, she could feel the blood seeping through her cream blouse, where the lip of his boot had split the skin. She just wanted to lay there forever, to stare up at that ceiling till the cracks finally won their battle and the whole place came tumbling down.

She couldn't though. There was a sound that called for her attention. The sound of crying. Luca was crying. No, he was howling.

 _Mustn't cry. Mustn't make a sound._

Gurl slowly rolled over, her shaking arms attempting to push her body up. They couldn't.

"I-it takes more than one try to get something right," she whispered to herself.

Her second try wasn't much better, nor her third or her fourth, but eventually she was able to stand, leaning heavily against the doorway to her brother's room.

"L-Luca... I'm fine. You hear me? I- I'm... I'm fine," she told him through the closed door. The howling slowly abated but the gulping, sobbing cries were still there. He wanted to be held, to be comforted from those scary sounds. But he couldn't be held. Seeing her like this? What would that do to him? Gurl sighed, wincing as she heard the faint patter of blood hitting the carpet. She'd get in trouble for that. She'd get in trouble for everything when he came back...

 _When... he..._

Her eyes flared open, mouth parting as she stared at the flimsy wooden barrier between her brother and the rest of the world. Henry was already drunk. He had gone out. He was drinking more and then he'd come back.

 _His hand on Luca's door, his fist raised._ The image was burned into her mind. Gurl blinked away the furious tears pooling in her eyes, teeth gritted and face set with a terrifying expression.

 _ **No**_.

* * *

The latch was put on the front door along with a chair, wedged just below the handle. Crashes and clatters emanated from the kitchen as Gurl ripped open the cupboard and drawers. Throwing things on the counter with little thought to the mess she made, stopping only when she held in her hands the first aid kit and a bottle of vinegar. As quickly as she could, she rushed into the bathroom, turning the shower on full blast. She ripped off her shirt and threw it into the sink. She didn't care about the buttons, all she cared about was the thick stink of iron as she emptied half a bottle of vinegar over the material. She dumped an old towel on top to hide the red stain. It would have to do. Hopefully, no one would look in here. Gurl then turned her attention to her stomach, trying not to heave as she inspected the mottled imprints of Henry's boot and the jagged splits laddering up and down from her navel. Gritting her teeth, she stepped into the cool spray, watching as the red water circled the drain. She didn't stay in there long though. Time was short. Grabbing several tissues, she put pressure on the cuts, stemming the slow flow of blood with one hand, while she fumbled for the plasters and large rolls of bandages with the other. She used everything in that box, several times over, until she could no longer see a hint of red. But goblins had a good sense of smell. They'd know even if they couldn't see it. Gurl braced herself against the sink, taking several heavy breaths before pouring a bottle of her mother's perfume over her stomach, hissing and spitting as the liquid seeped through the material and hacked its way into the skin of her inflamed stomach.

"God damn it!" she cursed, hitting her hand hard against the cold porcelain and pulling in sharp, shallow breaths.

The burning pain slowly faded and Gurl looked up into the mirror, biting back a new curse as she noticed the large dark-purple ring forming there. She didn't have time to ice it. Even now she was scared that Henry might change his mind and come straight back. Instead she rummaged through Mum's make-up bag, pulling out her concealer and smothering it over the bruise, then, using her mother's bronzer, she dusted over it to better match the colour to her skin tone, face taut with the sting. There. Done. Gurl turned from the mirror, her eyes doing one last sweep for blood before grabbing the vinegar to clean the living room.

* * *

Luca was still crying by the time she got back to their room, his face red and mouth wide and trembling.

"Hey t-there big boy," she cooed, grabbing a loose, red jumper from under her bed and smiling at him, as he lifted his hands up for her to pick him up.

"Gur!" he cried, foot smashing on the bottom of his crib as he demanded to be picked up, to be picked up right now!

"Okay, okay. I've got you," she said, lifting him into her arms and fighting to keep the tight smile on her face as he shuddered and sobbed into her shoulder. "I've got you Luca, I've got you... I- I'm sorry. I'm sorry it's been such a rubbish birthday..."

Her soft voice had very little effect on him as he choked out his bitter distress. Gurl blinked rapidly and started to hum a familiar little song.

"S-stars shining bright above you..."

 _He'll never see the stars._

"...Night b-breezes seem to wh-whisper 'I l-love you'..."

 _There will be no nights._

"B-b-irds singing in the s-sycamore trees."

 _But there will be birds. There will be crows and owls and the chicken races. There will be songs and new friends and-_

And Gurl's voice grew stronger.

"Dream a little dream of me."

* * *

Gurl softly placed her brother in his cot, fingers lingering on the burning heat of his cheeks. There was no time to waste but she took a moment to watch him anyway, eyes hooded and steady on his face. She breathed deeply and opened her mouth to say the words. Nothing came out. The words had stuck in her throat like jagged glass, like they had claws and wouldn't let go. Gurl took a long breath of stale air. She could do this. She could do this.

"I wish the Goblins would take you away... right now."

There was a moment, a horrible moment, when nothing happened. No scuffling sounds of hidden footsteps, no fun-filled giggles and no sudden appearances of odd little fairies and kind-eyed monsters. She spun around, eyes flashing across her room, trying to smother the rising panic inside her. _But she had said the words_. She called them. They should come. _He_ should come. That was the way of it. They should be taking Luca away from this place. What- what if she was wrong- what if all this time-?

Then the moment ended. Floorboards creaked with little footsteps, books fell off their shelves, and the sounds of gleeful giggles echoed around her. Relief and pain washed over her in equal measure as she looked over to the crib and found it empty. It was hard to keep these feelings from her face but she did. Then the window flew open with a crash and all thoughts of expressions left her mind.

Gurl slowly turned around, eyes wide as she took in the sight of the somehow familiar figure standing before her, a twisted smile on his lips. It took her a moment to remember him, but remember him she did. It had been over fifteen years, but she hadn't forgotten the first person she had seen in her fairy kingdom. The man screaming out into the sun-drenched desert, distant eyes full of hurt. He was standing before her now, tall, beautiful and wild, with ice in his eyes and a smug smile firmly in place on his lips.

"... Y-y-you're him, aren't you? ...You're the Goblin king."


	9. Chapter 9

Hi everybody :)  
So, now that the story has got to this point. There is much less singing as Gurl really isn't in the right mindframe for it.  
I was slightly inspired by Clean Bandit - Rockabye as when I was first drafting the chapters before and after this, it had just come out (and hadn't yet been to overplayed on my local radios) www . youtube watch?v=papuvlVeZg8  
Hope you enjoy this :) xxxx

* * *

"Y-y-you're him, aren't you? ...You're the Goblin King!"

The Goblin King's smile flickered for a moment, almost revealing something beneath, but only for a moment.

"Now this _is_ peculiar."

There was a long beat of silence as Gurl stared at the Goblin King and the King gazed back with vague, smirking interest. His mismatched eyes intent on hers.

"A- a-are you going to keep my brother?" Gurl finally asked, breaking away from his bizarre gaze to look towards Luca's empty crib.

"Why ask questions to which you already know the answer to?"

Gurl had no reply to this, at least none she would risk verbalising.

"I have a question for you though. I've been watching you for a while now. Your wish..."

Gurl felt her breath freeze in her chest, had he seen it all? Did he know? If he did, would he brush off a wish with no fun of teaching the wisher a lesson like she had feared? Or maybe, _maybe_ what she had heard about him was wrong. Maybe he would somehow understand, perhaps even _helpher_?

"You seem to love your brother. Why would you wish for _this,_ Lucy?" the Goblin King asked, leaning in closer to her, as if to read her very thoughts.

Gurl schooled her face not to react as the meaning of those words sunk in. He couldn't read her mind. He hadn't been watching her for a long time. He didn't know anything about her. This was just another part of his fun, making the runner feel like he knew everything, like he was in control, not them. Not her.

 _If that were the case, he wouldn't have called me that name. He wouldn't have to ask why I'm doing this..._

 _Then let him have his fun. Let him think he's in charge. Let him win_ , another, darker part of her mind whispered.

"H-how do y-you know my name?" she asked as she backed away, shaking her head as if coming out of a daze.

"As I said, for quite some time," he smiled at her, his teeth white. "Well, if you're not going to answer my question, we may as well start. You now have two options before you, Lucy."

In his hand, two glass balls were suddenly spinning between nimble fingers. One part of Gurl's mind was captivated by the fluid movement of his hands, the rest of her mind was thinking about bubbles.

 _Oh... they were magic glass balls, not bubbles, huh._

King Jareth, obviously unaware of Gurl's mixed thoughts on his trick, brought one of the balls before her face with a flourish.

"Option one; Stay here. Stay here with your family and your toys and forget about the baby."

Gurl didn't even look at the crystal, not wanting to see the blurred, fake images of smiles and silent laughter from the corner of her eye. She simply gazed at Jareth instead, trying hard to keep her expression steady, even as she heard a faint scrabbling sound of keys being angrily jammed into the flat's front door. Even as her throbbing heart leapt into her mouth. A few of the goblins looked around at the sudden sound of banging but the King spared it no mind, eyes intent on Gurl's face.

"No?" Jareth smiled, wider and slightly less plastic this time. "Well then, it seems there is only one option left."

And Gurl felt the shift. She didn't usually, but this time she did. It felt like something thick on her skin, like she had been coated in butter or tarry oil. It didn't last long though, allowing her to concentrate on hiding her sharp sigh of relief and stalling her expression of surprise, until Jareth moved out of her eyeline to reveal the Labyrinth in all its golden splendour. She didn't have to hide her gasp as she saw it again.

How long had it been since she was out here? All these years in the Labyrinth and she'd never gone back to the start, to the golden sky and sands, to where she once played at making castles and chased fairies, to where she first saw-

"How do you like my Labyrinth, Lucy?"

Gurl felt the sigh bubbling on her lips but held it back, she didn't want to pretend here, in her own dream world. She would though, for Luca.

"Never seen anything its equal," she murmured, still staring out at the expanse, wind blowing at her already messy hair. There was never much wind inside the Labyrinth itself. Perhaps that was one of the reasons the air felt so stale sometimes.

Turning to Jareth, Gurl felt her lip quirk slightly at the sight of his poufy hair blowing in the wind, but quickly smothered it down before he could notice.

"You have thirteen hours to complete my Labyrinth before your baby brother is lost, forever. Have fun," he told her, somehow looking a bit bored as he said this and faded out of sight, only a slight sparkle of glitter showing he was ever there.

* * *

 _Thirteen hours._

Gurl stared out at the maze as those two words ran around in her head.

 _Thirteen hours..._

She was a runner now. One of those who brought such gleeful and malevolent excitement to the goblins. They'd be watching her, placing bets on her, trying to stop her. Frankly, she didn't care about this too much in that moment. She just hoped that Luca wouldn't be too scared without her. He didn't like loud things much and he'd probably be upset about what just happened.

Gurl screwed up her eyes, blinking furiously as she started to walk down the sandy slope, towards the Labyrinth. There, she could see the door that would open into the entrance, hidden by the wall of vines that adorned it. She walked past it. A second doorway jutted out, made of a dead tree and a large handle disguised as a flower. She kept going.

She passed many doors, some too small for her, some too tall for her, many just right, until she finally came across a long rectangular pond where spiky fish swam through the murk. There was a doorway in there too. As a child, she'd never spotted the dark cavern reaching below it, always content to simply watch the fish as they played their never-ending game of tag. Gurl turned from the pond and gazed up at the rose-adorned wall, unable to stop the faint upturn of her mouth as the flowers twisted around to face her, heads gently bobbing as if in a stronger wind than she could feel. She then turned her eyes to the not-door, just to the right of them. It wasn't where a door was, but where one could be. There were many of them in the Labyrinth. It was also the entrance which she had watched as a child, the one that had been left open for her to go through, the one she had never had the courage to investigate. She walked past it and stopped, listening as the doors creaked open behind her. Gurl turned, gazed at it with expressionless eyes... and started walking through it.

 _Oh, the glitter. How I missed the glitter,_ she thought with a ghost of a smile as she turned right, gingerly stepping over the sparkly logs which she swore had shrunk. In fact, the whole place had shrunk. That blue and white sky seemed a lot closer than it did when she was here before, from when she used to visit the-

 _The worms._

Gurl had to check herself as she suddenly started walking faster, wincing as she forced her arm not to cradle her stomach. She tried to remind herself that it had been over twelve years since she had been here last, that there was no point looking for them, that-

That Mr Worm was right there!

Gurl blinked, then blinked again, then squatted down to reach eye level with the creature before her, hardly feeling the sharp throb rippling across her stomach at this movement. Mr Worm blinked back, a small happy smile blooming on his face.

"Hullo," he said.

"Hello," Gurl quietly returned.

"Fancy seein' another runner again so soon!" he exclaimed happily, meeting Gurl's confused eyes with a quick nod.

"You d-don't- I mean... You don't think I-" Gurl stopped talking, biting at her heavy tongue and looking away, only to start sharply as she noticed what had been a simple outgrowing of moss mere moments before, was now blinking back at her with disturbingly familiar eyes.

"Oh that's jus' the eye moss. Labyrinth's full of 'em," Mr Worm explained in a careful tone. "The blue in 'em really comes out during runs."

Gurl glared at the eyes then looked at Mr Worm. He was just as she remembered him, from his maroon gaze, down to the red scarf adorning his neck.

"I-I see... you uh- have you worms lived here for a- a long time?" she asked, trying not to let the hunger of her gaze bleed out into her voice or face.

"Well, time's a tricky thing 'ere in the Labyrinth. I honestly dunno. See the bigger you are, the longer you live. The longer you live, the more time you've got, righ'? At least that's the way it is in the world you came from. So, makes sense time moves smaller for the littlies."

Gurl nodded dumbly.

"You uh- you lost somethin' haven' you?" asked Mr Worm, a concerned look on his face.

"Yes."

"Well, no point talking the day away then. You've got to get a move on... and uh- if you see a little goblin on your way, tell her 'hullo' from us." He smiled at her again, a steady look in his eye that almost made Gurl double take, but the moss eyes were blinking at her, so she didn't. She simply nodded in return and stood up. She made to walk forward. Her feet didn't want to move.

"C'mon feet," she told them and forced one forward, then the other one.

"Uh, don' you need some help getting through?" called Mr Worm's squeaky voice from behind.

Gurl didn't look back, simply shaking her head and calling out: "I-it's fine, I've got it."

"Ah, well, good luck!"

Gurl stopped at that, finally looking back. Mr Worm was staring after her. His amber eyes unreadable but for the faint hint of worry in them.

"Thank y-you, Mr Worm," was all Gurl could say before she turned back around and made herself move on.

 _C'mon feet._

* * *

As she walked, Gurl felt her breathing even out and her eyes itch less. _She didn't stop walking._ She felt the painful throb in the back of her throat lessen, but the weight on her stomach tightened into a cold, clenching feeling. _She couldn't stop walking._

She was fine. _Just fine. Nothing wrong at all._

Gurl sighed and finally stopped, leaning back against one of the walls and blankly looking at the opening before her. Gurl didn't know how much time she had spent. She'd forgotten to put her watch on before she left.

 _Stupid, stupid!_ It hadn't even crossed her mind. Why hadn't it crossed her mind?

Should she move on? Had she wasted enough time yet? Perhaps she could look for the sundial by the cleaner-runs entrance. Perhaps she could go back to Mr and Mrs Worm... Gurl hit her head back against the brick, she needed to focus. She needed not to mess this up, not to make Jareth suspect, not to ruin his fun.

Squinting around her for eye moss, Gurl felt the tension in her shoulders fall away as she spotted none. She simply contemplated the opening before her and abruptly kicked off the wall, stomping forwards. Holding back on the temptation to run her hands over her throbbing belly again, she turned right and made her way along the path that opened up before her.

* * *

She had already wasted two hours. Jareth raised an eyebrow at the image reflected in the glass. She had been going past by the most obvious of openings, glancing at them almost as if she could see them before moving on. She was ignoring help from those around her, and, after she finally got through, _she was still walking_. What was she doing?

A large series of noises echoed through the hall. _What were 'they' doing?_

Jareth stormed out of his hiding room, sweeping along the corridor towards the throne room. Mania. That was what Jareth saw as he entered. Pure, undiluted mania. But, seeing as that was what Jareth encountered on a daily basis in his kingdom, he was able to shrug it off and push over the tower of goblins, kick aside the mismatched singers and effortlessly land in the centre of the mess. A baby looked up at him, eyes hopeful for a moment before screwing up into silent sobs. Not loud, bawling cries for help, just hitching little shudders which may have broken Jareth's heart if, as he often said, he had one. With a sigh, he picked up the baby only to flinch slightly as the sobbing cries turned into full on shrieks as the baby threw his hands up and down, desperately trying to get away.

"No! No! Gur!" he screamed.

"That's what we try do Kingy!" said one of the goblins before shrinking back at the ireful glare she received from this.

"Now, what's wrong with you little child?" Jareth hummed, tilting the baby to the left and right as he inspected him. The babe didn't seem to care for this if the sounds of his cries were any indicator. With a tired sigh, Jareth brought up one of the glass balls in his hand, rolling it back and forth before the boy's eyes. Surprisingly this didn't work. Well, it did, but only for a moment before the boy turned his face away and tried to squirm out of his grip again. Jareth stared at the babe, nonplussed. His charges always liked his little magic tricks. Jareth looked closer at the child, frowning at his slight frame and the unfocused way he looked at his surroundings.

"Curious," he hummed, placing the whimpering boy on his hip as he swung around and out of the room, a trail of goblins following in his wake.

* * *

Gurl was slowly pacing through the twisting landscape of the shabby hedgerows, almost twice her height but easy to see through as she laboriously made her way forward. The passageways spread as far as the eye could see in every direction, blending into the haze of the grey-blue skies. There was no trickery in that view, no unseen mirrors or painted brick. The maze felt almost endless at times with no identifying markers and nothing to see that separated this part of the maze with any other... but Gurl knew where she was. She stepped around the next bend to come upon the large sundial, a contemplative eye on the shadow cast by no sun.

"That won't do you no good," came a snarky voice from the spiraling staircase that encircled the dais. Gurl jumped, hissing as the skin around her cuts was pulled with the movement, but quickly covering the sound with her own voice.

"It's you!" she stated unthinkingly.

A leathery head seemingly popped out of the ground and two, watery eyes glared at her suspiciously.

"'You?' What d'you mean 'you'?" Hoggle asked.

Gurl fell silent for a moment, before gritting her teeth and pushing the words out over her leaden tongue.

"I- I- I heard ssssomeone say there was someone who could h-help me here," Gurl tried to lie, feeling somewhat flustered as the blue eyes, that had never met hers before, narrowed with mistrust.

"Humph, you're lying... But I don't care," and with that he started stomping down the stairs.

"Wait!" said Gurl, attempting to detain him, but not entirely sure why she was doing so. "Uh- do you know-?"

"No," came Hoggle's voice, echoing slightly from the dark. "I ain't helping no one else. Bad enough last time, Jareth will throw me in the bog himself this time instead of just making me live there."

"What? You l-live in the bog, Hoggle? But you hate the smell!"

The silence stretched for more than a minute before Gurl realised the dwarf had already left. She turned away with a sigh and contemplated the sun dial again.

 _Four hours gone. Nine left_... she'd have to move slower... perhaps she could double back on herself? Gurl walked back into the hedge passageways, unaware of the dwarf watching her leave from the lip of the staircase with wide eyes and a parted mouth.

* * *

Jareth sat in his throne, head propped up on one hand and legs crossed over the chair's arm, silently watching the hastily appointed castle doctor try to explain what he had discovered about the child.

"Ah, the left eye doesn't work completely my King, the right one is working correctly but does not see things up close. I am not sure how this came about though," the Wiseman hummed as he turned away from the child to falteringly meet Jareth's fixed, indifferent gaze. "Hmm… he has a weak heart as well... no, no, not strong at all. This child is not well..." the Wiseman hesitated, looking down at the baby again before nervously turning back and asking, "Will he be strong enough to stay here, I, hmm, wonder?"

Jareth didn't say anything to this, ignoring both the 'Wiseman' and his unusually silent hat. Instead he looked at the little boy as he was momentarily distracted by a chicken strutting through the throne room, a little distance away from him. The boy's lips were still down-turned though, parted in silent sobs. It wouldn't be long until he started howling again, Jareth could tell. Jareth pinched his brow and sighed as, true to form, the boy's whimpers deepened again. Then they stopped. Both the King and the Wiseman turned their heads sharply to watch as the child started reaching out his hands to grab at a figure who had just sat down before him.

Jareth's newest goblin surveyed the little child with a contemplative expression, eyes narrowed and mouth twisted as if undecided on whether to smile or glare at him. This decision was quickly taken out of her hands.

"Gray!" said the boy, spreading his hands out as if expecting to be picked up.

Button's eyebrows shot up and her lips parted into a surprised, sharp toothed grin.

"I like him," she decided, turning to glance shyly at the intrigued Goblin King. "Can I play with him?"

"Don't play rough," Jareth instructed her, eyes still intent on the focused expression of determination on the boy's face, as he reached out again to be held.

"Gray!"

"He had a toy his sister gave him," Jareth found himself recalling. "It looked like you somewhat, she called it Grace."

The young goblin froze in place, holding the child into her flat, metal plated chest, before looking down at the child with a bewildered expression and walking away with him without another word.

Jareth nodded to himself. Something was going on here, and he was going to find out what.


	10. Chapter 10

**_She tells him "ooh love"_**  
 ** _No one's ever gonna hurt you, love_**  
 ** _I'm gonna give you all of my love_**  
 ** _Nobody matters like you_**  
 ** _She tells him "your life ain't gonna be nothing like my life_**  
 ** _You're gonna grow and have a good life_**  
 ** _I'm gonna do what I've got to do"_**

* * *

Gurl tried to smile to herself as she walked down the side of a stone path, not hiding, not running. Her finger's trailed over the surface, occasionally ghosting over the living walls but lightly trailing over the warmer, dead walls. The living walls, with their hidden curious eyes, were odd and almost frozen to the touch, as if they sucked in what little heat there was in the air and kept it for themselves. But, if she were to not touch them, to trail her fingers a hair breadth away from the rough surface, she could feel no cold. It was both peculiar and brilliant. As she had grown up, she had wondered at this, but now her thoughts were on other matters.

She was a runner here now. She could talk to whoever she liked, go wherever she wanted without having to hide away. She should be happy. She obviously wasn't and the smile she was trying to convince herself with was _not_ working. After such a day as she had, she would usually be consoling herself by talking with Ludo, sneaking into the Goblin City to visit Grace or Sir Didymus, or playing with Luc-

Gurl stopped walking, staring blankly into space.

"You look a little lost, don't you? Little one," came a quiet, creaking voice, bursting Gurl's bubble of peculiar thoughts.

Gurl turned to look down to her left. Where there had been no one before, now sat a goblin with a long, hooked nose, shadowed eyes and wearing a wide-brimmed hat. She didn't recognise him.

"Need some help?" asked the goblin, tilting his head to the side slightly.

Gurl didn't say anything, backing away slightly and shaking her head.

"Are you _sure_?"

Gurl nodded and span around, only to stop again as she saw the same goblin sat to her right now.

"Because it looks like you're not taking this place very seriously."

Suddenly the little goblin no longer looked like a little goblin. It stood up, legs far too big for its squat torso and its face and limbs being torn away to reveal-

"Jareth," Gurl breathed, backing into the icy stone wall behind her.

"How familiar," King Jareth smiled toothily, discarding his disguise behind him without a backwards glance. "I see that you're enjoying my Labyrinth, am I right?"

Gurl didn't say anything, warily watching Jareth as he started to walk closer to her.

"Hmm... I don't think you're taking this quite seriously enough. Little brother not enough incentive?"

"I- I- I-" Gurl stopped, wincing as the sounds stuck in her throat and pushing them out. "It is!"

" _Is_ _it_? You walk, not run, you ignore what's before you, you ignore offers of help. I'm starting to think that you don't want to reach my castle."

 _No._

"I- I do! I- I was just llllost! I'll-"

"Continuing to lie are we? Don't defy me with false words, Lucy. I can see through them."

 _..._ _ **Liar**_ _huh? Then let's lie_ _ **.**_ _He calls you Lucy. Meet his gaze, show your confusion, your fear._ _ **He calls you Lucy,**_ _he doesn't know you. He doesn't-_

"The problem is," Jareth started again, leaning against the wall to Gurl's right and looming over her. "You can't run a race, you can't run my Labyrinth, if you don't _run_. And you can't run if you don't want to win, so let's change the prize."

Gurl could feel the light prickle of sweat on her brow, the way her palms itched and her lungs constricted as Jareth leaned in closer, face scarcely inches from her own.

"Since your brother's fate isn't enough to motivate you, we will change the terms of our deal. Complete my Labyrinth in the next four hours or I shall take you instead of your brother."

The words sunk in and it was as if all the liquid in her body had been drained away, as if she was slowly collapsing in on herself, like paper in a fire.

"No," she whispered, voice hoarse and unfamiliar to her. "Th-there are rules!"

"And who makes the rules here, Lucy, I wonder?" Jareth smirked, eyeing up the fearful downcast expression sweeping over the girl's face. "I thought that would motivate you. You're not at all like I thought you were. You are actually a vile, selfish little thing, aren't you?"

Gurl looked up, met his patronising gaze and hissed out a sharp breath of anger.

"I'm to get to the castle before the time is over then?" she asked, voice like ice.

Jareth stared at her but didn't say anything for a long moment. "Hold your brother in your arms before the clock strikes thirteen and you will be free and I will take your brother. If not, _you'll be mine._ "

"I'll do it," Gurl turned from him, teeth bared and hands clenched tight.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. Time is short now, Lucy. You only have four hours left and the clock is ticking."

Gurl span around, eyes blazing but Jareth was already fading away. Her scream was loud and echoing, full of sharp, painful anger.

"I can't-"

 _You can_ _._

"It's not fair!"

 _Then make it fair._

Gurl made to kick out her leg against the living wall, stopping just short of striking it as she looked at the wide eyes staring back at her.

"S-sorry," she told it, furiously wiping the water streaming down her cheeks. The face looked down and up as if nodding to her, Gurl gave it a pained smile.

"I can do this, e-easy as breathing," she said, turning from the wall and starting to run.

* * *

It was sometime later that Gurl had to stop. Blood dripped, harsh breaths echoed and Gurl forced herself to stand.

Running... running had been a _bad_ idea.

The soft scuffling sound of her feet along the top of the maze walls somehow echoed as she forced herself forward again, feet trailing and tripping over the mismatched, uneven slabs. The smell of iron was thick and cloying and put a real spanner in the works. Not even Sir Didymus would be able to miss the smell of this. Gurl wasn't sure what would happen if the truth came out, but it definitely wouldn't be what she had planned for. What she needed was something to cover the smell of blood. She needed-

She needed to be concentrating on where she put her feet. The trap door swung open beneath her, sending her spiralling down a stone shoot. Only for her to stop, frozen halfway into the passageway, feet dangling into the dark abyss.

"C'mon! Grab the edge!" gritted out a harsh voice from above.

Gurl gasped as she looked up to see Hoggle glaring down at her, clambering and wrenching at the scruff of her red top.

"Grab it!"

Numbly, Gurl did as she was told, pulling herself up with pained grunts and a lot of cursing and grumbling from Hoggle. Eventually, they both lay on the flagstones, wheezing out tight breaths into the muggy air.

"Wha- what you go and do that for?" Hoggle spluttered out, glaring up at the sky as he tried to catch his breath.

Gurl turned to look at him, eyes radiating bewildered confusion.

"Don't give me that look. You know what I mean. You didn't watch your step like you did before, you dodged five of those things earl-" Hoggle suddenly stopped talking but it was too late.

"Y-y-you were following me," Gurl stated with a blank expression "wh-why? A-and why help me?"

Hoggle sat up and glowered at the floor, not looking at Gurl as he fought through the muddle of his thoughts.

"You remind me of someone."

Gurl blinked at this then looked away, "Oh."

Hoggle looked around at that, taking in the girl's slumped shoulders and clenched fists.

"Uh- by that I mean-" Hoggle stopped talking again, wrinkling his large nose. "What's that smell?"

Gurl's head whipped around, the panic in her face giving Hoggle the answer he was hoping not to get.

"I-it's fine," Gurl muttered, standing up now with a worryingly blank expression and turning away. Hoggle stared at her, unsure of what to say or do. Something was wrong with this human that was for sure.

"Come here," he grumbled, leading her to another flagstone which he pried up with a grunting huff to reveal a twisting, moss covered staircase.

Gurl stared at it, eyes as wide as saucers. "I didn't know that was there."

"Can't always trust your eyes here. Sometimes you gotta use your gut, or in this case your feet," Hoggle explained, leading Gurl down it with a limping jog.

"W-where does this go?"

"Home."

* * *

Gurl had been to the bog of eternal stench before, usually skirting around the edges or briefly catching a whiff of the rotting scent as she had weaved through the hidden short-cuts nearby. But she only visited it a few times. Twice to be precise.

The first was by accident, a slip down the side of the wall as she hid from the surprise patrol of a particularly nose-blind knight. This visit didn't last long. The second time had been for curiosity, a feeling which quickly depleted as she searched through the festering marshes with both hands clamped tight over her nose. She hadn't found much of interest, but that may have been because she was most interested in a 'way out' after a few minutes there.

But on this, Gurl's third trip to the bog, she found that the smell, while still a vile stench akin to caramelised vomit and rotting sweat, was not the distraction it had always been. Her stomach was taking the larger part of her concentration, as she forced her hands not to cradle the inflamed and bloodied swell hidden by her baggy, red clothes. It wasn't so hidden from Hoggle though. As they delicately skirted their way up a narrow ledge above the swamp, he gently held up his hand to stop her. Gurl looked around, shaking her head slightly as the world dimmed in her eyes. She tried desperately to refocus on her surroundings. They seemed to have stopped by what appeared to be a ramshackle gardening shed, from which Hoggle quickly entered to toss her a roll of age-yellowed bandages from the window.

"You shouldn't be running the maze like this," he grumbled as he turned and leaned against the door frame, just catching sight of Gurl's injury from the corner of his eye.

Gurl said nothing as she turned away slightly, hiding the full extent of the damage as she hastily re-bandaged herself.

"How- uh- how'd you get like that?"

Gurl stared at the building beside her, taking in the twisted spiral of rocks circling up into a crooked point, from which mottled ivy and smoke weaved around. She gazed as the soft blue plume dipped slightly as her hands and arms moved, sending the faintest movement of humid air which was the closest thing to a breeze in this still, sweating swamp.

"Fell," Gurl finally murmured, turning from what she now knew to be Hoggle's home and briefly met the dwarf's worried gaze.

"Oh, I- uh- are you-"

"Thank you, Hoggle, bu-but I m-must go now."

"H-hey! Wait! Wait! I can't just let you-"

"I n-n-need to get to my brother. I don't have ti-time to wait," Gurl told him, voice short but expression warm and pleading.

He stared at her for a long moment, eyes clouded and lost. "You remind me of her so much."

Sarah. The name goes unsaid but Gurl can hear it in the lost echo of her friend's voices, of Ludo's pained insistence and Sir Didymus' reluctance to speak and of Hoggle's downcast face.

"What happened to her?" Gurl asked, her own pain forgotten in the face of Hoggle's own.

"The same thing that happens to all humans. Time's strange here… I wish it weren't."

Gurl looked away, unsure of what to say to this other than, "Sorry, Hoggle."

"It is the way it is." Hoggle shook his head softly and looked back up at Gurl. "Jareth'll know, you know, about your injury. If I can smell- well if I can tell, you've got _no_ hope of keeping it from him. Whatever it is you're hiding, he'll find out!"

Gurl stared at him, teeth clenched and eyes shining.

There were loads of things she wanted to say. _Why are you saying all these things?_ Or, _Why are you looking at me like I'm fractured glass_? But what she really wanted to ask was: _why are you helping me?_

But she didn't ask anything. He'd made it clear to her already why he gave her bandages, why he had been watching her, why he'd helped her.

Gurl turned away from Hoggle's increasingly worried expression. Focusing instead on the problem at hand. She stared over the crumbling ledge they were perched on to the crusted swamp below. She hummed lightly, gazing at the gurgling whirlpool of thick slime beneath her and slowly edging a foot forward, only to stop as she felt leathery fingers gently grasp her hand.

"That isn't a good idea, girl."

Gurl jolted slightly but otherwise made no move as she continued to stare down into the swirling muck.

"Look, the smell, it won't go away if you touch it. It really won't. It'll always be a reminder of- well," he paused, a strange look of realisation suddenly sweeping over his face. "But you don't have to touch it to take it with you."

At that, Gurl finally tore her eyes away from the bog to focus on the small glass vials being held before her, filled with a mix of moulding green sludge and yellow, bile-like water.

"Is that-?"

"Something I've always wanted to use. Let's give him hell!" Hoggle chuckled.

* * *

"Whooza cute boy?"

Jareth massaged his brow.

"Youza cute boy!"

The Goblin King raised his eyes to the heavens.

"Whooz-"

"I'm sure he's quite aware that he is a _'cute boy'_."

Grace Buttons looked up from the boy sat on her long legs. "Nah, he doesn't know yet. He needs to be told more."

Jareth sighed and summoned up one of his glass orbs, distracting himself as the cooing started anew by turning to observe the runner who surely by now had at least reached the Firery forest... or perhaps the walls... or-

She wasn't there. _She wasn't anywhere_.He blinked and swung his legs off the side of his throne to better study the crystal. _Where was she?_

* * *

Gurl ran. Through wood, over earth and under stone, she ran.

As she had started her race, listening to Hoggle's shouts about getting help or something to that affect, her body throbbed with hurt. An inflamed pulse had crawled up from her belly, stiff, sore and stinging as if nettles had been brutally skewered into her skin. As her face turned ashen, as her breath turned grating and burning in her throat, and as her feet swelled with each push against the uneven surface beneath her, the sensation slowly changed. It was tight and it was violent. The tacky feeling of blood bursting across her skin was searing and acidic, burning into the raw edges of her injuries and making her jerk and gasp anew as her body tried to stop, tried to rest. But she couldn't. So, she ran.

Oh, how the runner ran.


	11. Chapter 11

**_Man am I glad it's half term for me right now. I get a week off work to lie-in and see my little baby nephew and all that jazz. Very excited! It also means more time for me to write! Yay!_**

 ** _Slight spoiler: If you're interested, the dream sequence was slightly inspired by Terry Pratchet's book 'Wee Free Men' where there are monsters who make dreams to trap people, one of which was based off of the painting 'The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke' by Richard Dadd. I though this linked nicely as, in the original film of Labyrinth, Jareth trapped Sarah in a dream then tried to stop her from reaching Toby in time by using an artwork like maze (based on 'Relativity' by M. C. Escher)._**

 ** _I wasn't thinking of any painting specifically when describing the scene, more of the Victorian depiction of fairies and the sort of rich summery oil painting that I swear I've seen a thousand times but can't clearly remember._**  
 ** _If anyone can think of what painting I'm trying to remember, please let me know. Haha it's really bugging me!_**

 ** _Hope you enjoy this xxx_**

* * *

The city was quiet when she finally slowed, softly leaping out of a crack in the wall, and landing on the cobbled stones, at her usual height once again, with a light patter. The sound echoed. That was her first clue that something was wrong.

There were no sounds but the soft clucking of the black chickens as they scratched at barren dirt, and the sound of a distant slamming door.

Gurl edged along the city, hands trailing over the mossy walls, keeping her upright as she limped along, blurred eyes and ringing ears strained for the slightest sign of life.

Her second clue that something was wrong was the peculiar thrumming feeling that started to spread out through the cobbles below her feet. She wiped the sweat from her eyes and kept moving though. She couldn't- she _wouldn't_ stop.

The third clue, which she found as she blindly rounded the ally corner before the steps of the castle, wasn't so much of a clue as much as a **gigantic army**.

 _Oh_.

Startled faces turned to her, quickly turning from wide-eyed surprise to murderous delight. The thrum of the strange cannons increased in tempo as a huge clatter of weapons echoed and glee filled yells rang out.

"CHARGE!"

 _Okay_.

Gurl stood before the crowd of goblins, seemingly frozen with fear as the thrumming cannons were aimed and lances sped towards her.

 _ **Right**_.

Gurl pulled out the vial from her pocket and unstoppered it.

It was as if the goblins hit a brick wall, or, to put it more accurately, like a brick wall had hit them. Knights toppled backwards as their small scaly steeds reared and screamed. The cannon goblins flew out from misaimed weapons, firing into the crowd of fleeing soldiers.

Through all the screaming, the running and the unmitigated chaos, Gurl stood tall, in the eye of a storm. Her face was taut and her eyes sharp as she forced herself to move forwards through the sea of scrambling goblins.

In the distance she heard the shattering of glass and tasted another wave of putrid stench fill the air. Hoggle had caught her up. He could hear his bitter cackle of laughter as goblins fled anew, scrambling over each other in their desperation to leave the city, to get away from that vile stench. A howling sound joined the chaotic clatter of noises and Gurl watched with distant surprise as the rocks that made up the twisting, stone houses around her, wrenched themselves loose and threw themselves on the remaining goblins.

Gurl felt a smile on her lips for a brief moment as she watched the distant figure of Ludo bound through the streets. She couldn't have asked for better backup, and silently thanked both him and Hoggle. There was no time to go to them though, no time to stop even for a moment. She could not stop. She would not stop as she made her way through emptying streets towards the castle of the goblin king. One of the soldiers had not run though.

"Stop I say!" The figure cried.

Gurl didn't stop.

"It is my solemn duty to protect this castle. None shall enter without my permission!"

Gurl kept walking.

"I am warning you. I will not hesitate to strike. Give yourself up now and I shall be merciful!"

Gurl didn't stop until she reached the unaffected guard snarling before her, and only then did she pause, her blurred eyes finally focusing on and recognising him.

"S- Sir Didymus. I- I have to save my brother," she knelt down to whisper to him.

Sir Didymus's face seemed to freeze, his body stiffening as Gurl met the conflict whirling in his face.

"Have we-? ...You remind me of someone," he finally told her, a small, wet shimmer in his eyes.

Gurl said nothing, eyes intent on his as he slowly sighed, lowering his lance.

"Thank you g-good Sir," Gurl nodded, before passing the unmoving knight.

As she made her way up the stairs, Gurl could have sworn she heard him whisper: "good luck, my lady."

* * *

The castle felt empty as Gurl limped through the hallways, pushing herself along by the walls and peering into every room.

An echoing scream reverberated down the hall and Gurl smiled tightly as one of the unlucky goblins forced its way through the front doors to be hit by the far carrying stench of the unstoppered vial Gurl still carried. Silence reined again as she hurried through the hallways along to the throne room... which was empty.

"No," Gurl whispered, spinning around, chest heaving with panic as she tried to find something, anything, that would tell her where her Luca was. Instead what she found was the barrel-end of a spear. She let out a strangled spluttering gasp as the blunt wood dug into her stomach, unable to stop the figure as it used the distraction as a chance to wrestle the vial from her hand and throw it out of one of the windows. Gurl looked up at her attacker with wide, watering eyes.

"You won't find the him in the time you have left. Give up, it's what your kind does best," they spat down at her, grey eyes burning.

Gurl met them with a steady blaze of green.

"I w-won't g-give up," Gurl wheezed out.

The spear fell from the goblin's hands with a clatter.

"W-wait, say that again!"

"I w-won't give up, Grace... I'd n-never d-do that."

Grace Buttons stared into space, her little mouth opening and closing wordlessly, then sharply turned and looked at Gurl as she forced herself up off the ground.

"You called me Grace- wait- _no_ \- I knew it was a mask but- you're not her, you're human. You can't be-"

"I'm s-sorry. I'm s-so sorry Grace b-but I don't have the t-t-time. I have t-to save my b-brother."

The great clock in the throne room ticked loudly, the sound swirling and echoing around them as Grace silently stared at the human before her.

"You made him a toy like me. You told him about me. That's why he wasn't scared."

Gurl nodded, fighting to keep her face immobile as another wave of hitching shivers raked along her body.

"... Go down the stairs to your right. He's hidden in a dream. Don't- don't get lost Miss Bear."

Gurl swept her friend before her into her arms, cradling her tight into her body.

"Thank you," she whispered, kissing her on her leathery cheek, before turning and running down the stairs.

Grace Buttons watched numbly as the human disappeared, clawed hands outstretched for a moment as if to grab her and pull her back into her arms. She shook her head to clear the odd thought and turned to walk away, only to stop, nose crinkling at the odd smell weaving upwards.

Slowly, Grace Buttons dropped her hand to the armour covering her stomach, it came away covered with red.

* * *

The steps seemed endless as Gurl ran. The world bled into black around her, the only thing visible in the growing gloom were the stone slabs beneath her. Then there weren't even those.

Down she fell, down and down, tumbling, spinning and spiralling into the black world below.

Suddenly the movement of air against her cheeks slowed and the darkness snapped away into blaring, blinding sunlight. Flinching and covering her eyes, Gurl barely noticed when her feet kissed the soft grass beneath her. She did notice the sudden babble of noise though. Laughter and distant shrieks of excitement filled the heavy, flower scented air.

Gurl opened her eyes. She stood in a field of what she would have described as vivid green grass, if 'vivid' was strong enough a word to label it with. It could have also been described as day-glow green if it wasn't for the fact that the day was glowing even brighter. The sea of green surrounding her was dotted with begonias, carnations and poppies. Forget-me-nots bloomed softly around the flowers, hidden beneath their vibrant shades. The air was heavy and cloying with their scent, overwhelming the faint taste of iron to the air that Gurl had brought.

Against the open sky and the wide plane of perfect blades of grass and lush patches of clover, Gurl looked like a monochrome photograph. Her skin was dirt encrusted and washed out, and her hair dull and wet with both stale and fresh sweat.

Around her, a range of childlike figures danced and played, perfect smiles on perfect faces, hair like gold and fire, eyes like the grass beneath their feet and the sky above their heads. For a moment Gurl stared, strangely enraptured by the children who had now gathered around her with smiles on their faces and lavender roses entwined in their hair.

"Come play with us Lucy," they sang and started giggling only to stop and let out sweet squeals of surprise as Gurl plowed through them, unconcerned about missing their perfect toes and dainty feet with her dusty trainers.

"LUCA!" She bellowed, scanning her surroundings and trying to ignore the joyful spatter of music, battering at the frolicking butterflies around her head as she called out again: "LUUUCA!"

"My, what a noisy thing you are," came a smirking voice from behind Gurl.

"He's h-here and I know it," Gurl told Jareth without turning around. "LUCA! I'M HERE!"

"You're right Lucy, he's right here."

This time Gurl did turn around and there he was, siting comfortably in Jareth's arms, eyes following the butterflies flying around them. Gurl looked at him then glared at Jareth and turned away.

"That's n-not my brother. LUCA WHERE ARE YOU?"

"...And what makes you think that?" The voice was curious and would almost have made Gurl smile on any other day.

"He's n-not trying to get away from you," she returned, moving away and searching through the crowds of people for any signs of silent tantrums, shoving their fluttery fragile frames out of her way in her fervent search.

The pause was palatable this time and when Gurl finally glanced back at Jareth, the baby was no longer in his arms. Instead he was elegantly leaning against a large table, complete with golden embroidered white cloth and gem encrusted plates and cutlery. Food was spread along it of red shining apples, rich joints of meat, sugar encrusted tarts, and countless plates of rich sweets. Gurl barely took them in. Instead she was staring at the Goblin King himself, eyes roving over his perfect face then to her surroundings and back again.

"Why do you care so much about returning to that world?"

Gurl looked down at her feet, raising one dirt encrusted trainer-

"No one truly appreciates you there Lucy, always making you look after the baby when you should be having fun."

-and carefully lowered her foot. She gazed thoughtfully as she raised it once again-

"Now if you were to stay here. Well, babysitting would be a thing of the past."

-and stomped down hard.

"And you would never be left alone again, you'd have all the company you could ever want."

Gurl's step didn't fail to press at the blades of green or create the slight squeaking crunch of fresh grass, but Gurl wasn't looking with her eyes or listening with her ears. She was listening with her feet.

"You want to stay here Lucy, forget about the baby, forget about everyth-"

"This is a f-fake dream."

Jareth paused, mouth opening and shutting as he stared at her in bewilderment before quickly recovering.

"Curious, you believe this is fake? This is but a taste of what I can giv-"

"It's time to wake up."

And the bright, sweet world shattered into black.


	12. Chapter 12

**_I am really glad I have written this story. It may not be my most popular fic or one that a lot of people are going to see in the future but I have enjoyed writing it and I think I've improved my writing by taking this on._**

 ** _This is the last main chapter, the next one is the epilogue and is much shorter. I hope you enjoy it :) xxx_**

 ** _Warnings:_**  
 ** _Blood, somewhat graphic descriptions of injuries and violence, abuse._**

* * *

Light filtered in as slow as pouring treacle. It oozed through cracks in the walls and trickled down the flight of stairs.

"How did you do that?"

Gurl blinked and scrambled off the dusty floor to stand before the figure glaring down at her, his arms wrapped tightly around a squirming baby.

"Gur! Gur!" Luca squealed, arms waving as he tried to grab at her from a distance.

"Hey Luca," Gurl smiled, voice warm but eyes wary as Jareth smiled at her, his face now alight with curiosity. When she looked back down at her brother he was no longer in his arms.

"...That's n-not f-fair," Gurl stated, voice a monotone.

"Life's not fair."

The sound of a clock started to strike. The first strike sounded, echoing through the broken shadows.

" **No**. It's n-not," Gurl said and closed her eyes.

 _Take a step forward._

The clock struck twice. Gurl opened her eyes.

" **But I'll make it fair,** _ **"**_ Gurl vowed _._

 _Then take another step._

The clock struck once more.

"I've fought my way here, thr-through t-troubles I will not speak of, with dangers and pains you d-do not know, all that to be here at your castle in this m-moment."

The smile dropped off Jareth's face like wax running down a candle.

"Where did you hear those words, Lucy?"

"My n-name isn't Lucy, Jareth."

Jareth was immobile, face like stone but for the faint parting of his lips and widening of his eyes, staring at Gurl as if it was the first time he had seen her.

"Names are important. If my mum had called me Lucy, t-there would be a very different person standing in my place. But she d-didn't. I'm not Lucy. E-everyone has a different name for me. Everyone thinks I'm someone o-other than who I am, but th- they don't change _who_ I am. I am me and what y-you call me will not change that. I know who I am and **y-** **you have no power over that**."

"Wait, you cannot- the clock- what have you-"

"You like to play games d-don't you Jareth? It's f-fun to play with the good ones, t-tease them, place the treat before them then yank it b-back to see them break. Is th-that what you were doing with me?"

"It's not possible for you to do this. There are rules," Jareth hissed.

"Y-yes. Your 'rules'. I've learned a few rules in my time here J-Jareth. R-rule one: things aren't always as they seem," Gurl took a step forward, Jareth took a step back. "Rule two: You can't get everything right the first time." Another step forward, another step back.

"Rule three: listen to your feet, they can get you anywhere. Rule four..." she paused, meeting Jareth's alarmed gaze with the flint of her own. "Rule four... Time is funny in the Labyrinth. The more you have the faster it goes, and the less..."

The slow chime of the fourth toll started to stretch on the edge of hearing.

"The less time you have, the sl-slower it goes. The Labyrinth can be fair like that."

Jareth stopped walking backwards suddenly, as if he'd hit a wall.

"What did you say?"

"Rule five-"

"No, _what did you just say?"_

" **Rule five Jareth,** l-life _isn't_ fair... but cheating is allowed."

And with that Gurl kicked out a leg and dodged behind the cursing, bent form of the king, swooping down to grab at what appeared to be empty space. Her arms came up holding her screaming, darling Luca, as she pulled him tight into her arms and let out a tight sob of breath.

Time rushed back, like a badly recorded song, jolting forwards with the loud screaming chimes of the clock. But Gurl didn't notice. All she could feel was her forehead pressed against Luca's, his tight sobbing breaths breaking over her like waves, washing away the anger and the pain as she held him, teeth clenched and hitching, crying laughter raking her body.

"You're safe," she breathed "you're safe now."

"...You're _bleeding_ ," stated Jareth with wide eyes.

"MISS BEAR!"

Gurl smiled wetly, looking up from Luca, even as his podgy hands grasped at her face, to turn it back to him to keep facing him and _never turn away again_.

Grace Buttons stumbled down the stairs, chest heaving and eyes wide as she took in the scene before her, and saw the way her friend wavered as she stood.

"Hey Grace, his n-name is Luca," she told her, pulling her brother away from her embrace and passing him to her friend, gently detangling his clenched fists from her hair and clothes as he scrabbled at her, desperately trying to stop his sister from letting go, from going anywhere that wasn't with him.

Grace Buttons took the child, unable to stop staring as her friend's face crumpled at the baby's writhing, screaming attempts to get back to her.

"Y-yes Miss Bear, but- but-"

"Yeah, I know," Gurl breathed out before turning to look up at Jareth, looking at him with an intensity that had no place on a face so pale and so worn. "You're good at l-looking after the unwanted ones. Now l-l-learn how to take care of the wanted one."

"You were the visitor..." Jareth uttered, staring at her, his lips moving soundlessly before he shook his head sharply and wrapped his slender hands over her shoulders.

"You have not learned the most important rule," he said, voice hushed but desperate.

Gurl gazed at him, eyes hazy and unfocused, the world around her was starting to fade into nothing but Jareth who still stood before her, eyes intent on her face.

"You have not learned to ask for help, you-" and his voice faltered and his grip tightened as a smile rippled over Gurl's face.

It was not a happy smile. It was not joyful or kind. It was small and it was pained. It whispered stories of a lonely childhood. It told tales of a human being who should not have been forgotten, but was. It spoke all the words she needed to say.

"You have never asked for help, have you? You never thought you could have it with but a word..."

Gurl's smile faded away, along with the world around her.

The clock strikes had run out. It was time to wake up.

* * *

Gurl drifted, voices melted and blended like the twisting curl of smoke in a light breeze. A loud sound- close to her, so close- tugged at the corner of her mind. There was something, something she was supposed to do. Someone she was supposed to-

Pain, searing and absolute, took a hold of her, twisting her limbs and marring them with what felt like tearing seizures of her muscles. Her eyes cracked open, vision warped and stained with a light pink tinge that spread further and further with every scraping blink of her eyes.

There was someone standing in front of her. Two cracked, leather shoes, one shifting back into the air, both flecked with red. Air moved, there was a sound of something hard forcing itself into pulverised meat. It didn't really sink in for Gurl that the pulverised meat was her. The world wavered again and became dark, only to resurface as those cracked shoes moved back, turning towards a pair of old, stained heals. They looked familiar. Gurl's eyes sluggishly drifted up. There's a woman there. She- she looked angry. She was pointing at something on the floor, she-

Something... something was happening. The red feet, they turned back to her. Gurl looked up, her eyes juddered as they turned, like they had been filled with scraping, scratching rust. But she moved them and she watched as the foot slammed forward once more, somewhere around her chest.

Something cracked.

A thought seeped through the blinding haze. Had she ever asked for help? Had she?

It felt like sandpaper coated the inside of her skull, even moving her head slightly caused a strange heat to ripple across it, so odd and peculiar that she would have screamed from it had her voice not shriveled up inside her bloodied throat and her eyes not caught on the figure standing not five feet from her.

 _ **Mum**_.

"- _with but a word"_ he had said.

Gurl opened her mouth.

( _Nothing came out_.)

She tried to yell.

( _Nothing came out._ )

She tried to whisper.

( _Nothing. Came. Out_ ).

She tried again and again and again, as her body rocked back and forth with every strike.

"...Hng," Gurl rasped.

Mum's eyes fell to the ground.

"huh-" Gurl tried again, watching as the woman bit her lip.

"H-h-heh-el- h-el-puh."

Mum's eyes shuttered then snapped up, focused entirely on Gurl's for the first time in years. They were green, just like Gurl's. Then they were gone.

Gurl's vision danced and faded as something slammed onto her head. Things were happening but Gurl was no longer aware of what they were. She was no longer aware of anything... but for a single voice, or perhaps a delirious thought, whispering into the blackened fog of her mind.

 _"_ _ **You had but to ask**_ _."_


	13. Epilogue

_**Somewhere over the rainbow**_  
 _ **Way up high**_  
 _ **And the dreams that you dreamed of**_  
 _ **Once in a lullaby**_  
 _ **Somewhere over the rainbow**_  
 _ **Blue birds fly**_  
 _ **And the dreams that you dreamed of**_  
 _ **Dreams really do come true**_

* * *

The case of Lucy and John Spencer was known by many.

In years, it would become a case study of the failings of safeguarding protocols and procedures for new teachers and social workers to learn from, and for numerous students to write essays about. In months, it would be the cause of a brief resurgence in awareness of abuse and what could be hidden in plain sight. But, for the first week or so after the news hit, it was gossip. Newspapers revelled in spreading the delightfully exciting and gory details for the world to see.

' _ **SOCIAL SERVICES MASSIVE MISTAKE!**_ ' Read one.

' _ **MISSING BABY AND COMATOSE GIRL. WHO'S FAULT IS IT?**_ ' Read another.

If someone were to read further into the articles, perhaps they would be interested in the fact that the father was sent to prison, where he had to be placed in isolation to protect him from the other inmates. _No one likes a child murderer._ Maybe they would also be interested that, while she was never allowed to see her daughter again, Mrs Spencer fought tooth and nail to keep her daughter on life support.

But perhaps they would not be interested in any of that. Instead, they may look to a small, pink-walled ward, filled with beds and the occasional nurse. There are faded paintings on the walls that no one ever looks at, and wilting flowers, that no one ever smells, placed haphazardly by every bed. All but for one.

Soft, steady breaths whisper out and a heart monitor quietly hums, unheard by the resident of that bed. A doctor walks up to it, followed by one of the nurses.

"The poor girl," murmurs the nurse.

"There was nothing in the scan, no sign of any brainwaves. Wherever she is, it's not here," the doctor sighs, rubbing her brow tiredly. They both stand there for a moment, simply watching the heart monitor slowly count out the beat of a weary heart.

Soon the doctor will walk away and put the girl from her mind to focus on her other patients. Soon the nurse will go on his break and happily chat and gossip with his co-workers. Soon the girl will be forgotten by those people, only ever visited by distant medical staff who had never seen her awake.

But to those who saw her with eyes wide open, even as she slept, who smiled at her and welcomed her as a friend, they won't forget her. They won't _be able to._

 **There once was a girl who believed in fairies and dreamed of goblins.**

 _In a world that is not quite a world, a child screams with chortling delight, scurrying through the thick press of a hedge wall, easily stepping through the small spaces and slipping into a green hallway of mirrors. He is quick, but not quick enough as furry hands gently sweep him up and bring him into a soft embrace. He laughs anew as he is plucked from this hug and spun upside down to see a grey, sharp toothed smile._

 **There once was a girl who played with dolls but never played pretend.**

 _Another member of the group sighs and grumbles while the another praises the child's quick and daring movements. Together, the five of them make their way to one of the mirrors. Snorting, giggling and rumbling with amusement. From within a mirror comes a silent smile as a slender hand beckons the group to a hidden room._

 **There once was a girl who made a wish to save her brother-**

 _In a land within a dream, two siblings sit in a cave of glass lights, the taller crooning out a soft song as the other leans back in her arms. They sit together, surrounded by their friends, watched over by a little white owl, smiling up at the stars they made together._

 **-and ended up saving herself.**

* * *

 _ **Authors Note:**_

 _ **Thanks, from the bottom of my heart, for reading all the way to the end of this story. I hope you all have enjoyed this as much as I have. I'm a little sad to finish it to be honest. I've been working on it for so long before I started publishing it.**_

 _ **Thank you again to Sazzle76 who was fantastic in all of her help, and thanks to everyone who gave me kudos, comments and the will to keep going. You all make me smile so much and I can only hope I did the same in return for you xxx**_


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